


One Small Thing

by surefinewhatever23



Category: Hannibal Lecter Series - All Media Types, Silence of the Lambs - Fandom, The X-Files
Genre: Aliens, Bisexual Dana Scully, Crossover, Dana Scully Angst, F/F, Fluff and Smut, Lesbian Character, Minor Original Character(s), No Lesbians Die, Silence of the Lambs References, The X-Files References, Vampires, Work, Workplace Relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-31
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:34:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 37,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23419048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/surefinewhatever23/pseuds/surefinewhatever23
Summary: At first, Scully just assumed Starling was like any other FBI agent she and Mulder had encountered over the years. They all seemed to look at the X-Files as a joke or sometimes an embarrassment. Even from the beginning, Clarice treated Scully and Mulder as coworkers, not as a dreaded assignment.
Relationships: Ardelia Mapp/Clarice Starling, Dana Scully/Clarice Starling, Fox Mulder/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 22
Kudos: 55





	1. No Harm, No Foul

**Author's Note:**

> I know I haven't posted in FOREVER, but I finally have some time now that I am working from home! Enjoy this Dana/Clarice story. Let me know in the comments what you think about it.

There was something about Clarice Starling that captured Scully’s attention. 

Scully couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but she thought it might have to do with the way that when she talked to you, Clarice made you feel as if you were the only thing that mattered in the world.

At first, Scully just assumed Starling was like any other FBI agent she and Mulder had encountered over the years. They all seemed to look at the X-Files as a joke or sometimes an embarrassment. The first time they met, Scully already braced herself for the snarky comments about this recent case: a series of strange murders in the DC area. 

Honestly, Scully would not have blamed her for having big doubts. Hell, when she was first assigned to Mulder, her not-so-secret mission was to prove that all of Mulder’s strange cases had some sort of scientific explanation, not supernatural.

Instead, Starling listened intently while Scully debriefed her of the current profile of the killer and the strange mutilations of the recently murdered victims. Starling never once interrupted the redhead, didn’t even roll her eyes. 

Once Scully got Starling up to date, they began to talk about how both of their investigations overlapped. Starling first got pulled into this case about five months ago, when the fourth exsanguinated murder victim was found naked in their pool. There were many theories about what happened to them, but there were very few clues or pieces of evidence left behind.

Scully and Mulder had first gotten wind of the case after the second victim. Mulder was scouring local newspapers, almost begging for a case. After a minor slap on the wrist from Skinner, they had to keep a low profile for a while. Even though there was always a minor chance that the X-Files would be shut down, they had recently gotten a stern talking to about drilling witnesses about UFOs. 

Mulder had done a lot of research on this case before bringing it up to Skinner, who begrudgingly agreed that worst case scenario, the dynamic duo would be investigating a murder. 

Scully had run in some of the same social and work circles as Starling and had followed her progress with the Hannibal Lector and Buffalo Bill case whenever it was on the news. That being said, she never really got a chance to introduce herself. 

After the media forgot about her win with finding Buffalo Bill, Starling was transferred to an undercover drug investigation team. For the few months after the public backlash from her botched drug raid, she had been quietly tucked in the basement doing routine paperwork that could be done by any low level agent. 

Recently, Starling had been assigned to any serial killer cases that other FBI agents did not want to touch. Whether they were grotesque, seemingly hopeless, or mundane, Starling got stuck with them. Honestly she did not mind. Anything to get back out in the field. 

“Dr. Scully?” Starling asked. Scully realized she had missed part of the conversation. It really was difficult to concentrate when Starling was speaking to her. Starling was very expressive with her hands and occasionally bit her lip when she was thinking. 

Scully was worried that Starling would think she was not interested in the conversation at hand. She quickly responded, “Please, call me Dana. I am sorry I missed that last bit of the conversation. There has been so much going on today that I am surprised I haven’t fallen asleep standing up.” Scully smiles and gently places her hand on Starling’s arm, as if to reassure her that Dana really did care.

“Okay, but you have to call me Clarice,” Starling said, with a little bit of blush. The heat from Scully— Dana’s hand was an unexpected but pleasant sensation. She hoped the redhead wouldn’t notice her reaction. 

Clarice had never formally met Dana, but they had occasionally seen each other at FBI meetings or while walking down the hallway. Clarice was struck by how intense Scully’s gaze could be, even at a passing glance. 

Starling had no idea what she was really feeling about Scully. She knew both of them had been with women before, but still wasn’t sure how Mulder factored into the picture. There were always rumors about the “Spooky Couple” who worked in the basement and travelled all around the US on a quest to “find the truth.” Honestly, Starling did not really see any connection between Mulder and Scully other than two people who are comfortable being around each other— more like long-time friends.

Clarice knew that Scully could definitely be her type if the situation were different. Her strong hands and warm smile would be enough for Clarice to at least want to get to know Dana more, in an “after hours” kind of way. She had never met a woman who was as brilliant as Scully, especially not one who stopped practicing medicine to join the FBI.

Clarice snapped out of her thoughts. What was she thinking? She was just consulting on one case and then leaving. This was not going to be more than any other case she had worked before. She didn’t need to try to analyze her temporary colleagues.

Dana, Mulder, and Clarice talk for about an hour about the evidence, or lack thereof, that they have found so far. Clarice feels Mulder’s stare on her as he presents his vampire theory. They decide to call it a night and Clarice gives a cordial goodbye to Mulder and Scully.

As she walks to her car, she wonders if Mulder was staring because he wanted to see her reaction to the vampire theory or if it is because of something else. Earlier in the day, Clarice thought she saw him checking her out from the corner of her eye. 

Clarice isn’t naive about her looks. She has spent so many years working out, both to stay in shape and to release all the pent up rage and other strong emotions she tends to bottle up. Clarice has gotten quite a few invitations to dinner or a movie from women she sees in bars or meets at the gym. She always turns them down or politely takes their number but never calls. 

After her breakup with Ardelia five years ago, Clarice has been trying to avoid the dating scene as much as possible. She likes to pretend it is because she is already on thin ice politically with the Bureau and doesn’t want her sexuality to be a factor. Clarice knows this isn’t true. Everyone around her knows about her former relationship with Ardelia and surprisingly, nobody cares.

No, Clarice really is just scared of commitment. Not in the sense that she does not see herself ever wanting to settle down, but more like the emotional damage that comes from breakups. Instead of trying to put herself out there, she preferred the quiet one-night stands that worked well with her job hours and schedule. She did not have to worry about any fallout from those trysts. The woman she was with for the night was always well aware that Starling might not be in that city or state for more than a day. No harm, no foul.


	2. Vices

Dana Scully almost fell onto her couch when she walked through the door to her apartment. She could not remember the last time she had been this physically or mentally exhausted.

Between a lack of sleep and her self-doubt, Scully’s emotions were a whirlwind of taunting whispers. Although she wanted nothing more than to go to sleep, her mind was racing too fast to relax.

Scully decides to pour herself a small glass of wine, just to help her relax a little bit. She doesn’t normally drink before bed, but tonight she really needs it. After the first glass, she has finally calmed down enough to stop pacing. She sits back down on the couch and wishes for the millionth time that she could just fall asleep quickly. It usually takes an hour or so until she can finally sleep and she is envious of those who can just pass out right away. Normally Scully would read a book in bed or catch up on some TV shows she was behind on, but tonight she decides to take a long hot bath.

Time is a luxury Scully is convinced she will never be able to afford, so she usually doesn’t like to spend her free time taking baths. As relaxing as it sounds, Scully usually just ends up thinking of the things she should probably be doing instead. 

She doesn’t care about any of that tonight. Scully starts running her bathwater-- as hot as her skin can stand- and undresses. Scully is meticulously neat, even when she is tired, so she immediately puts her clothes in the hamper and grabs a robe from her closet. On her way back, she grabs another glass of wine to enjoy while she is taking her bath.

Within minutes, all of the tension in Scully’s back and neck has seemingly disappeared. She feels much more relaxed and able to slow down her thoughts. She closes her eyes and lets her neck rest back against the edge of the tub.

Scully lets out a deep breath she didn’t even realize she was holding. Clarice’s face suddenly pops in her thoughts. Dana doesn’t want to even acknowledge it, but she knows she won’t be able to let it go until she does.

Yes, Dana found Clarice incredibly attractive. Everything about her made Scully want to give her undivided attention. Dana could never forget Starling’s intense blue eyes, how they looked when she was fully focused on you. 

What really put Scully over the edge was Clarice’s slight Southern accent. Scully had invited Clarice to call her by her first name mostly out of professional courtesy, but partially because the way Clarice drawled out “Dr. Scully,” was too distracting. Most of Dana’s coworkers and friends call her Scully, and she probably goes by that more than her own first name, so the distraction wasn’t being called by her last name. 

Dana stops herself before she falls even deeper down that road. She decided a while ago to not sleep with anyone who is involved in any of her cases. After getting an impulsive tattoo followed by a one night stand with Ed, Scully realized she needed to set boundaries. 

Scully is okay with her ongoing friends with benefits or women she met in a bar. She isn’t opposed to relationships in general, but it is hard to find the time to meet people outside of work. Eventually she wants to settle down and get married, but it is really hard to pull off if Scully isn’t even in the same zip code half of the time.

Dana steps out of the tub and dries off. She looks at herself in the mirror and thinks she can start to see fine lines on her forehead and the corners of her mouth. She doesn’t really mind them but she can be very self-critical at times. 

Scully is still too warm from her bath, so she decides to skip the robe. She finds an old oversized UFO t-shirt and puts that on. It was a gift from Mulder one year for Christmas, but he accidentally bought it two sizes larger than she needed.

She has finally relaxed enough to try to sleep. After a few minutes of tossing and turning, Scully falls asleep. For once she actually stays asleep for most of the night.

——

Clarice makes it back to her hotel after a quick stop for fast food. She might not look like it, but she loves greasy food. Cheeseburgers in particular are one of the few guilty pleasures she has.

The room is bare and looks like it had seen better days. Starling’s one small suitcase sits on the edge of the queen bed. She is not usually messy, but she is so tired that she strips and throws her clothes, attempting to aim at the dresser. She doesn’t even look back to see where they land. Instead, she flops ungracefully on the bed, a little cold in just her sports bra and boyshorts.

The mattress squeaks the way old mattresses do, and Starling hopes the hotel cleans the sheets well. She feels a sharp pain of hunger, but quickly remembers the greasy fast food bag she left on the table. 

Starling makes her way to the tiny table by the window and takes her time eating her dinner. She browses her phone, trying to find a good playlist to listen to. She really loves making playlists and seemingly has one for her every mood.

What is her mood? She has felt off since she entered her hotel room, like something was not right. Starling’s hand goes to her gun as she slows her breath. Clarice is an incredibly good shot, but she tries to never use her gun unless absolutely necessary. Many people assume she’s a gun fanatic based on how meticulously she cleans her weapons and about how much she knows about many different types of guns. She never tries to defend herself because doing so would be explaining her past, which she has tried so hard to forget.

Starling slowly stands and makes her way towards the back of the room, by the bathroom and closet. She curses herself for not checking the room as soon as she got in. How could she let her guard down like that? She can’t remember the last time she didn’t check to see that everything was all clear.

After she checks the closet and the bathroom, she is extremely grateful that nothing is there. She secures her service piece in a lockbox that is sitting on the dresser. She sees that her clothes landed nowhere near the intended target and puts them in a pile on the chair. She can deal with them later.

Even after clearing the room, she feels uneasy. She knows that logically it is unlikely she is in danger. Only Scully and Mulder knew where she was staying. Starling takes a deep breath and assesses the situation.

It is so much easier for Starling to deal with her emotions when she looks at them pragmatically, as if she is analyzing a case. It suddenly hits her. She feels alone. Clarice has always been a lone wolf, no stranger to spending plenty of time by herself. She is not used to this emptiness. 

She chalks up this feeling to being tired and in a kind-of-sketchy hotel. Seemingly satisfied with this assessment, Starling decides to unpack. She didn’t bring much. Clarice never knew how long she was going to be out on a case, so she packed smartly, with outfits and layers that could be put together in different ways.

Well, she mostly packed smartly. In the large inner pocket of her suitcase she packed a form-fitting black dress, heels, and some lingerie. She almost didn’t bring them, but she felt like it was always better to over-prepare.

After unpacking, Clarice is ready for bed. She feels small in the queen-sized bed, but that was all the hotel had available. Normally Starling can go to sleep fairly easily, but the light outside her window is flickering and it is very distracting.

Starling turns over to her other side and closes her eyes. She finds herself starting to drift off, in that pre-sleep state where her guard is down, but she still is able to control her thoughts. She sees Dana facing away from her, in a lab coat instead of her outfit from earlier. Clarice thinks that it makes sense as she was just thinking about Scully’s former medical position. The thought of Scully is relaxing and Clarice decides not to try to stop it. That is, until Dream Dana turns around to reveal she is not wearing anything besides the lab coat. 

Clarice gulps and squeezes her eyes shut tighter, frustrated that her mind is betraying her like this. How could she look at Scully with a straight face tomorrow? The thought makes her uneasy so she tries to block all of her thoughts. Soon Starling falls asleep, tossing and turning. She is a heavy sleeper, so it doesn’t bother her.


	3. Reminiscing

Scully awakes to the sound of a loud pounding. She groans and tries to ignore it. Scully is not a morning person and waking up to loud noises only makes it worse. The loud pounding does not stop.

Five minutes later, Scully decides to get out of bed. No point in trying to go back to sleep. She yawns loudly and stretches until she hears the satisfying pop of her shoulders. She walks over to her window, the source of the pounding. She sees a man on the roof adjacent to her, pounding away at the shingles.

For the millionth time, Scully regrets living in an apartment. She makes enough money to own a house if she wants to. She just can’t bring herself to actually buy a place of her own. In her apartment the most she has to do is some light decorating. She can call maintenance if anything breaks or stops working.

She closes her blinds and starts getting ready for the day. The day will be another cool one, so Scully likes to dress in layers. She never knows where she will end up. Her office is always slightly too warm, the morgues are slightly too cold. 

It will be her first full day on the case with Starling, and Dana wants to leave a good impression. Yesterday she was tired, her clothes wrinkled, and her hair probably a mess. Yesterday she did not have enough energy to care and thought Starling wouldn’t be in until later. 

Dana picks a pair of dress pants that she knows hug her curves tightly. She puts on a black tank top, an essential layering tool. She pairs this with a cruelian blue button down shirt. She originally was going to leave three buttons undone, but she doesn’t want to be unprofessional. God knows that if Starling showed up in something like that, she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from stealing glances.

Scully knows that Clarice is attracted to women, but that doesn’t mean Dana is going to break her no-workplace rule. Is it breaking the rules if she tries to be flirty as hell? She sprays some light perfume on her wrists and behind her ears. Dana can’t remember the last time she actually planned to be a flirt. 

A mixture of booze and pretty women normally loosened Dana up, so she never really had to try too hard to be flirty. Once her guard was down, Scully became a real casanova, always ready to party after a few shots.

But actually getting dressed up with the intention of being a tease? That never happens when she is wearing her work clothes. Scully doesn’t know what has gotten into her, but she feels energized and happy. 

Scully grabs her coat and keys and makes her way to her car. She thinks about stopping for coffee, but realizes that getting ready has taken her longer than usual. She thinks about calling Mulder to tell him she will be late, but he never really seems to care anyway.

\-----------

Clarice wakes with a start. She can’t remember her dream, but it was something that made her uneasy. She opens her eyes and sees that it is almost seven in the morning. She jumps out of bed and into the shower, wanting to make sure she doesn’t run late to her first real day on the case.

A hot shower and twenty minutes later, Clarice gets dressed. She grabs a sweater that is a little bit tight and her black dress pants. That’s what she gets for forgetting that sweaters do not go in the dryer. It is the warmest thing she brought, and without dressing in layers, it was the only outfit for today’s chilly weather. She brushes her hair and checks herself in the mirror one last time before she leaves.

She impulsively decides to put on some lip gloss and a spray of perfume. Just to make a good impression, she thinks. Definitely not for any ulterior motive, she lies to herself.

On the way to the office, she swings by a coffee shop and orders three coffees. She isn’t sure how Mulder or Scully take it, so she grabs some cream and sugar just in case. It is eight thirty when she makes her way to the basement office. She is greeted by Mulder, who looks like he might have slept in his clothes. Even so, he still looks good in a weird unshaven way. He happily takes one of the coffee cups and pours two creamers and two sugars in it. 

“So you are the famous Starling, huh?” Mulder asks. Surprisingly, he does not appear to be trying to make fun of her. She nods, kind of cautious about his possible motives. 

“And you are the famous Mulder?” she responds with a small smile. He laughs, glad that she seems like someone who can take a joke. He takes a sip of his coffee and grimaces. He walks back over to the table where Starling set the coffee and adds more sugar.

Starling begins to ask where Scully is, but is cut off by a pencil falling by her head. She lets out a yelp of surprise and jumps out of the way. “What the fu---” she looks up and sees ten other pencils sticking out of the ceiling. Mulder laughs and Starling looks at him.

“Oh shit, you’re giving me the “Scully stare” eyes,” Mulder says with a chuckle. Starling looks back and forth between him and the pencils and starts laughing. Mulder laughs too, relieved that Clarice doesn’t call him immature. Not that Scully has ever actually said he was immature out loud, but he knows she thinks it pretty often.

Deep down, he loves Scully on more than a platonic level. One night several years ago he even told her when they were about five episodes in on a Law and Order: SVU drinking game. They were completely trashed and she mentioned that she had a huge crush on Olivia Benson. Mulder laughed and said that you would have to be blind not to. After that, Scully dropped her beer on his lap and tried to clean it up. He had to grab her hand before she wiped his pants. 

Suddenly, he pulled her to him and kissed her. Her lips were much softer than he had imagined and he was surprised when she kissed him back. After a few seconds, she backed up. She placed a hand on his cheek and told him she did not feel the same way. He was a little surprised because he knew she was bisexual, but he knew well enough to not push her or make her feel uncomfortable.

It never really affected their working relationship. It never even really affected their friendship. The next weekend she invited him over for a drink and to watch some old sci-fi movies. After finishing the first movie, she took his hand in hers. She told him how much it meant to her that he didn’t keep pushing that night. She said she will always love him, but not in that way.

And he thought he moved on, he really did. But hearing about her tryst with Ed Jurse made him upset in a way he didn’t expect. It hurt that she chose Ed over him, but he knew deep down that they were better as friends. After that night of jealousy and long drinking, Mulder finally got over his infatuation. 

Mulder blinked his eyes to stop those memories. Starling is looking at all of his books scattered around his desk and picks up one in particular. Jose Chung’s From Outer Space. She holds it up to him, a quizzical look in her eyes. They both start laughing again. Mulder finds himself wishing that Starling could join their team permanently, he hasn’t laughed this much in a while. 

“What are you two doing?” Scully asks, thirty minutes late. She looks at both of them and raises an eyebrow.

They both continue laughing. Scully loves the way Clarice laughs and it temporarily makes her lose her hard-ass facade. She smiles and chuckles a little bit. Clarice offers her the coffee and she takes with a look of gratitude. Dana drinks her coffee black, which is a good thing because Mulder used up all the cream and sugar. 

“Long night, Scully?” Mulder asks, assuming she was out all night with one of her lovers. That would explain her odd glow. He winks at her, knowing all too well that Scully never comes in late and it must have been a good night.

“For your information, Mulder, I overslept,” Scully replies. Mulder doesn’t buy it. He sees that she has made an effort to dress up a little. She wouldn’t do that if she slept in late. He decides to let it go, they should probably get started on the case anyway.


	4. Attention Span

“Good mornin’,” Clarice says, unconsciously looking Scully up and down. From her beautiful hair to her form fitting dress pants, Dana is breathtaking. When Scully smiles at her, she blushes. If she is going to be around Scully this often, she is going to either learn how to not blush or pray that Dana never notices.

Scully thanks Clarice for the coffee, and they all start working on the case. For the next few hours, all three of them have their attentions fully locked on the case. They pour over crime scene photos, looking for anything they might have missed. 

Mulder is sitting behind the computer, scouring for any and all references about vampires in the last two centuries. He rubs his eyes, trying to keep focus on a search he knows is probably going to be unimportant. From all of the lore known, vampires do not meticulously clean up after themselves. They are undead and don’t have to worry about being caught. 

Starling is coming to the same conclusions. If there really were vampires involved, why would they have even bothered to clean up the evidence. Sure, maybe clean up the blood and the bodies. But why wipe down fingerprints? Starling maps out where all of the murders were committed, trying to find some sort of pattern. Did the order of the murders matter? Were the locations of the crimes themselves important? 

On her end, Scully is pouring over the autopsy photos. She would have preferred to do the autopsies herself, but she was only a consultant on these cases in the beginning. They eventually turned over the case to her and Mulder after things started getting strange. She leans over the table, trying to find any similarities between the bodies before her. 

Starling looks up just in time to see Scully leaning over the table, completely immersed in her search of the autopsy photos. She notices that Scully’s shirt is low cut from this angle and gulps as she tries not to look any further. She feels a mixture of emotions. On one hand, she is very intrigued by Dana Scully and would like to know just how physically accurate her dream was last night. On the other hand, she wants to ignore her feelings and urges, do her job, and just head home where she can work her angst out with some pretty woman she meets at a bar. Anything but trying to seduce, or rather to not seduce, this beautiful woman in front of her.

At that moment, Scully looks up and catches Clarice staring. She smiles at Clarice, letting her know that she saw her and that she liked it. Dana doesn’t know what she is doing. She feels like she is out of control. She shouldn’t have worn this low cut shirt, she shouldn’t have encouraged Starling, and she sure as hell shouldn’t do what she was about to do next.

“Hey Clarice, do you mind coming over here to take a look at something?” Dana stops herself before she winks, but damn did she want to. Clarice makes her way over, visibly conflicted. Dana doesn’t even know what she wants from Starling, but she knows she wants to try to get under her skin.

Clarice gulps and looks over at Mulder. His attention is completely on his computer, hoping that he can unravel this mystery. Thankfully, he is paying no attention to the two female agents. Clarice walks over to Dana, set in her desire to remain professional, no matter how much she wants to cross that line. Scully had to know what she was doing to her, right? She wonders if Dana got just a little bit more dressed up for her. 

Dana’s heart skips a beat as Clarice walks over. She is kind of surprised honestly. Dana had a feeling that Clarice was into her too, but she wasn’t sure until Starling walked over, gently biting her lip. 

Clarice smiles and then reaches over Dana. “Do you mind if I have some of your coffee? I have already finished mine...” Starling asks. She doesn’t wait for an answer, just takes a sip of lukewarm coffee and then places the cup on the table. She is done playing nice. If Scully is going to be a tease, then so is she.

Now it is Scully’s turn to blush. She thinks she is definitely correct about Starling, but is determined to have the upper hand. She sees just a hint of Clarice’s lip gloss on the mouth of the cup. Starling notices it at the same time. Dana picks the cup up and takes a drink, just barely licking her lips. 

Both of the women are walking a thin line, waiting for the other to give in first. Clarice takes a step forward, planning to get close enough to Scully so she notices, but not close enough to touch. She glances down at the photos and gasps. Scully looks startled and even Mulder looks over.

The spell between the women is broken, but Starling has found a clue in the photos. Mulder comes over and she explains to them both. Each woman was found in the vicinity of a river, which isn’t inherently strange. But, each of the women had a pattern of freckles on her neck. They may have seemed like normal freckles, but when put all together, there is a correlation. 

The first victim, Janet, had a spattering of freckles on her neck that corresponded with campsites in Virginia, near Washington DC. That campsite is where the second girl, Louise, was found. 

One by one, the three agents were able to match up all of the freckles of the girls to the places their bodies were found. They all added up, except for the last two victims. Victims 6 and 7 seemed to be mixed up. Even though victim 6 was found first, victim 7’s location was correlated with victim 6’s freckles. 

Scully is impressed at what Starling was able to find and asks her how the hell she was able to figure that out. Clarice explains that, after pouring over the maps of the locations the bodies were found, she was able to see a connection between the freckles. To an outsider, it was a seemingly stupid hypothesis, but Scully and Mulder were really impressed. Victim 7 had just been found about two days ago, and Scully was the one who did the autopsy. While nothing strange had jumped out at her about the freckles, she did want to take another look at them.

Mulder says he wants a break and heads out to lunch, offering to pick up lunch for the women, but they are really interested in working the case. He sees them both standing over the pictures, seeming like they are focused only on that. He doesn’t even think they really notice him leaving. 

In reality, Dana and Clarice are purposely trying to focus on the case, but having a really hard time concentrating. When Clarice was explaining the freckles connection, Scully was standing right over her shoulder. Close enough that Starling could feel Dana’s hot breath on her neck. When Dana was looking over the autopsy photos again, Clarice kept bumping up against her, pretending to get a better viewing angle. She was trying to tease Scully but ended up getting distracted when she smelled Dana’s perfume. It was a mixture of oranges and lavender and it was perfect.

After an hour of trying to focus on the case but failing miserably, Clarice clears her throat.

“Dana, what are we doing here?” Clarice addresses the tension between them. They could go on playing this game all day, but she doesn’t want to wait that long. Scully looks at her, and Clarice swears she can see the fierce hunger in her eyes.

Dana wants nothing more than to kiss Clarice right now. She could break her rule every now and then, right? She has Clarice wrapped around her finger, at least she will later if she doesn’t stop now. Her brain is sounding off sirens, warning her of all the times she has mixed work and pleasure and ended up getting burned. Every other inch of her body is telling her to lock the door and take Clarice in her arms, if only for an hour.

Scully grabs Starling’s hand and kisses it lightly. “Clarice, I want to. Trust me, I do.” Starling looks up into her eyes and suddenly Scully has lost all resolve to keep this platonic. Dana moves first, putting Clarice’s hand on her breast and wrapping Clarice in her arms. Dana kisses her neck, enjoying the subtle scent of her perfume. 

Clarice can’t help but let out a little moan, enjoying Scully’s lips on her neck, but wanting them elsewhere. She gently pulls Dana’s face towards her and kisses her, slowly at first and then more deeply. With her other hand, she slowly massages Scully’s breast, normally out of bounds but, hey, Dana was the one to start it. Now it is Dana’s turn to moan. She turns and picks Clarice up just enough to set her on the edge of the desk. Starling tangles her fingers in Dana’s hair and pulls her closer.

Dana suddenly steps back, adjusting her shirt. She grabs Clarice’s hand and pulls her off the table, motioning for Clarice to be quiet. Starling hears the elevator doors closing and realizes why Scully stopped. She wipes her lips and walks over to the maps, trying to forget how good Dana tasted.

Mulder opens the door to the office, balancing three milkshakes and a big fast food bag in his arms. “I figured you two nerds would still be here trying to crack the case. You girls know you can take some time off once in a while, you know?” Mulder thankfully is oblivious to what he just walked in on, and Dana and Clarice try very hard not to look at each other. 

“Okay I got strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla shakes, three cheeseburgers and two fries,” Mulder says and honestly the two women are pretty hungry. Scully doesn’t normally eat french fries, but steals some of Mulder’s if she wants some. She grabs her burger and a chocolate shake and heads over to her desk. The same desk she had just pushed Clarice up against. 

Mulder grabs his burger and vanilla shake and heads to his desk, “I hope strawberry is okay for you, Starling.”

Clarice likes strawberry enough and takes that and her cheeseburger and fries over towards a table they were working at before, across the room from Scully. Dana looks at her and winks, “Hey Starling, come have a seat at my desk so you don’t have to eat around the paperwork.” 

Mulder laughs and brings over a chair for Starling, “It’s okay Clarice, Scully just doesn’t want you to spill anything on the photos, she won’t bite.” Clarice gulps, hoping that Scully would bite her later.

Dana smiles at Starling, but doesn’t wink, trying to calm herself down before Mulder notices their furtive stares. Clarice starts eating her burger, trying as hard as she can not to look at Scully. Dana, not liking to be ignored, grabs Clarice’s shake and drinks it. 

“Woah Scully, you have your own shake. I thought you only liked chocolate anyway,” Mulder chastises, not wanting Clarice to feel like she is an outsider. 

“Yeah Dana,” she pouts and then takes the shake back from Scully. She makes a show of wrapping her lips around the straw, but only because she isn’t facing Mulder. Their game of cat and mouse is starting to be frustrating. Clarice wants nothing more than to take Dana back to her hotel room. She forces herself to stop her train of thought there, before she gets any more frustrated.

The phone rings, startling all three of them. Mulder picks it up, “Hello? It’s Mulder.”

“Oh yes, I see. Yeah, I will head up in a minute, okay. Let me finish my lunch.” Mulder hangs up and rolls his eyes. He tells Scully and Starling that he needs to leave for a while, one of his sources thinks she might have a lead on the geographical patterns of the freckles.

“I am going to see Jane from Georgetown University,” he explains to Clarice, “she specializes in symbols and lore related to geography. She has another class and then she will talk to me. It might be a few hours, if you know what I mean,” Mulder winks. 

He has been dating Jane for a couple weeks and has been really happy. It just so happens that she is also a great source for some of their cases. That is actually how they met in the first place.

Scully starts to think about how Jane and Mulder are making it work despite meeting on one of their cases together, but quickly stops. It’s not like she is in love with Starling. Infatuated, maybe. But Dana has no illusions about where this is going. 

“So anyway, ladies, I hereby give you the rest of the day off. If we are correct on the timeline, we have about one month until the next victim. Get some rest, we are going to need it tomorrow,” Mulder chuckles. He hopes that he won’t come across lazy, but he thinks Starling will understand. After all, they did just spend four hours pouring over hundreds of pages in research. Plus, it’s not like he is going to give up his night with Jane. 

Mulder says goodbye and then heads to the elevator, eager to see Jane. The women wait until they hear the door close and then look at each other, now that it is safe. Everything goes silent for a second, as they find each other’s eyes.


	5. Breaking Rules

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This whole chapter is shameless smut... you have been warned

“Clarice, we need to wait,” It almost hurts Scully to say it, but if they start now, she doesn’t think she could stop even if Skinner walked through the door. Clarice looks sad and walks over to the chair where Scully is sitting. She slowly straddles Dana, as if begging the redhead to change her mind.

“Starling…” Dana warns. Clarice ignores her and slowly runs her fingers down Scully’s arms. Everywhere Clarice touches leaves a warm trail, and Dana closes her eyes.

“No, you’re right, not yet,” Clarice climbs off Scully and gives her a quick kiss, “Meet me at my car in ten minutes.” 

She walks away before Dana can even process what she is saying. Scully quickly regroups and finishes her milkshake. She might have finally met her match. She hasn’t met many women that she can’t completely dominate, and Scully doesn’t like giving up control. She might break yet another one of her rules for Starling. 

Ten minutes passes by quickly, and Scully locks the office door and heads upstairs to the parking garage. She realizes, rather foolishly, that she doesn’t know where Starling parked or what kind of car she drives. She looks around, suddenly nervous. It is easier to talk herself out of this when Starling is not actually in front of her. 

Before she can think about that further, Clarice pulls up in a shiny black Mustang. Starling rolls down the window and asks, “Hey stranger, need a ride?” She adds just a little wink and laughs as Scully practically jogs to her door. 

Scully gives her a quick kiss on the lips, and then a little bit longer when she realizes that Clarice’s windows are tinted, maybe even more than the legal amount. Clarice revs the engine and pulls out. She keeps glancing over at Dana and smiling. 

“What?” Scully asks, noticing Clarice’s gaze. She grabs Clarice’s hand and brings it to her lap. 

“It's been a while since I have skipped out of work early for, well... an afternoon with a beautiful woman,” Clarice suddenly keeps her eyes strictly on the road. She doesn’t know why she blurted that out. It’s not like she hadn’t hooked up with anyone recently, but the last few times happened drunkenly after hours, not in the middle of the afternoon.

“Me too,” Dana surprises her by saying. Scully can’t even remember the last time she had sex with anyone for she had known more than a couple hours. She hasn’t been going out nearly as much as she used to, probably not for the past three weeks. She blames her desire for Clarice on that. 

Clarice relaxes a little bit during the fifteen minute drive. They pull into the parking lot of her hotel and sit there for a minute. Scully kisses Clarice roughly, feeling liberated now that they are not at work. Clarice starts to pull Dana closer to her, but hits the horn with her elbow. The women both laugh, feeling like teenagers making out in the car. 

Dana gets out of the car first and comes to open Clarice’s door. The two women hold hands as they walk to Starling’s hotel room. It takes major self control for Scully not to pin Clarice against the door, but she knows there is plenty of time for that.

Starling barely has time to close the door all the way before Dana jumps her. Suddenly Dana’s mouth is soft against her lips and Dana’s hands are all over her. Clarice gladly returns the kiss, trying to remove Scully’s jacket and her own. 

“Dr. Scully…” Clarice moans, knowing the effect it has on Dana. She grabs Scully by the hand and leads her to the bed and pushes her back. Clarice straddles her lover’s waist, “I have wanted to do this all day.” 

Clarice unbuttons Dana’s shirt tantalizingly slowly, running her fingers lightly over the newly exposed skin. When she is done, Clarice takes off Scully’s shirt. Dana is not going to give up control that easily. In a quick movement, she flips Clarice over until she is on top. 

“Clarice, take off your sweater,” Scully purrs. Starling is so turned on that she takes it off without even thinking. She takes off her bra next, leaving her exposed. Scully takes advantage of this and leaves a trail of bite marks from Clarice’s neck to her collarbone. 

When she gets down to Clarice’s nipples, she slowly circles her tongue around one while teasing the other with her hand. She can hear Starling’s breathing hitch and feels her warm hands on her back. Clarice pulls Scully’s bra off in one smooth move. 

Clarice takes both of Scully’s breasts in her hands, loving how soft and full they feel. She scoots down to the end of the bed and looks up at Scully with her wide eyes as she brings one of them to her mouth. She sucks and flicks her tongue until she hears Scully moan. 

Scully is beyond ready and gets off of Clarice just long enough to take off both of their pants. Dana takes a second to take in Starling’s gorgeous body. There are so many curves and muscles that she would love to touch and kiss and bite. But right now she only has one goal in mind.

Clarice’s nipples are hard from the cold air on her now-exposed body. Dana sucks on them briefly and then blows on them, earning a slight moan. Dana kisses her way down Clarice’s abdomen, pausing only long enough to frustrate Clarice.

Scully grabs Clarice’s toned thighs and guides them over her shoulders. She grabs Starling by her waist and pulls her closer, until she is just inches away from Scully’s face. Dana looks up at Clarice as she teases her, slowly leaving bite marks on her inner thighs. 

Dana is shocked by how wet Clarice is. They had a little bit of foreplay, but not nearly that much. Clarice must have been hot and bothered all day. Scully winks at her, deciding to take pity on the younger FBI agent. She gently runs her tongue through Clarice’s slick folds, almost moaning at the taste. Her tongue switches between lightly flicking her lover’s clit and exploring the spots that make Clarice buck. Dana sucks gently on Starling’s clit, seeing that it made her lover react the most.

“Fuck, Dana, please…” Starling moans out. Dana keeps licking at the same speed, wondering how long she can make Clarice wait. On her end, Starling wants nothing more than for Dana to stop teasing her, but doesn’t want to beg. Not yet anyway. She isn’t quite ready to relinquish all control to Scully, but can’t wait too much longer. She smirks, thinking of ways she could influence Dana without asking for permission.

“Starling,” Dana whispers, her hot breath making Clarice twitch. She is taking her time exploring Clarice’s erogenous zones, using her vast knowledge of the human body to tease her lover.

“Dana, fuck me harder,” Starling screams, bearing down on Scully’s face and riding her tongue as much as she can. This works like clockwork, the sound of Clarice’s screams are enough to make Dana thrust two fingers inside of her, curling them expertly. 

Dana gets possessive when she hears Clarice’s scream and starts thrusting harder. She pulls back to look at Clarice’s face and hears a moan of disappointment, her lover wanting more contact. Scully’s thumb slowly starts rubbing circles on Clarice’s clit while she kisses her way back up to her lover’s other lips.

She kisses Clarice without her hands even missing a beat. She slips in another finger and hears Starling gasp below her. She looks down for a second, concerned that Clarice might not have wanted the extra sensation. Scully almost orgasms right on the spot when she sees Clarice look up at her, loving how full Scully makes her feel. 

Clarice’s velvety walls start to squeeze Dana’s fingers. Dana decides to take pity on her lover, and kisses her roughly. Starling looks up at Scully as her orgasm builds, desperately wanting the redhead to go faster and harder. Dana finally gives in, using her thigh to help her thrust as deep as she can.

Starling bucks against Dana’s hand and leaves scratch marks down the redhead’s back as she finally gets her release. Scully keeps her fingers thrusting, slower now. Starling looks up at Dana, surprised when she keeps going.

“Dana,--” Starling starts to explain that she usually can’t have two orgasms in a row like that, but is cut off when Dana makes her way back between her thighs.

“You taste so good Clarice,” Dana winks as she slowly removes her fingers and licks them. She moans at the taste and drops her head back down between her lover’s thighs. She flicks her tongue over Clarice’s sensitive bud of nerves and is rewarded with another loud moan. She slowly, sensuously licks Clarice, trying to taste every last inch.

Clarice is surprised by how quickly Dana is getting her worked up. The redhead’s tongue moves slowly, but plunges into Clarice, already getting her on the edge of another orgasm.

Starling can’t hold out much longer and has decided to give up on her attempts to not seem desperate. “Please, Dana, make me come,” she moans out as she tangles her fingers into Scully’s hair, pulling her closer and begging her for more. 

Dana wants to make a joke about Clarice being desperate, but that would require her to stop, and she decides it is not worth it. Scully keeps going slowly but with enough pressure to make her lover moan.

“Dana, fuck me like I’m yours, just let me come,” Clarice moans out, shocked at what she just admitted. Dana is shocked too, but the sound of Clarice begging is enough to stop teasing. Dana sucks on her lover’s clit and gasps when Clarice comes in her mouth. 

Dana continues licking, just until Clarice stops shaking. Then she wipes her mouth on the hotel sheets and looks back up at Starling. She is so incredibly turned on and is buzzing with the thought of Clarice being hers. 

It’s a dangerous game to play, and Clarice knows it. She didn’t want to say it, not like that, and after her orgasm, she immediately worries that she ruined the mood. She leans up on her elbows, wanting to get up before she has to face Dana.

She is shocked when she sees hunger in Scully’s eyes and realizes just how much this whole thing is turning her partner on. Clarice is a bit surprised that she gave up control that easily, but not surprised that Dana wanted to be the dominant one.

She pulls Dana up to her, enjoying the view of Scully crawling up slowly. She captures the redhead’s lips, moaning at the taste of herself on Scully’s tongue. Dana repositions herself, straddling Clarice’s thigh.

“Dana, did you enjoy yourself?” Clarice asks when she notices the slick mark on her thigh where Scully was just straddling. 

“Let me show you how much,” Dana says as she grabs her lover’s hand and pulls it down between her thighs. She is surprised when Clarice pulls her hand back. She is so surprised that she doesn’t even fight Clarice when she pins her to the bed.

“Good,” Starling says with a mischievous look in her eyes, “Now it’s time to tease you until you’re screaming my name.” The redhead looks up at her and she feels her resolve breaking. So much for being a top, she thinks. Clarice has never given up control that easily, not ever. She doesn’t know what it was about Scully that had her breaking all of her rules, but damn did she enjoy it. 

Clarice knows that she shouldn’t make Scully wait too much longer, but takes her time anyway. She runs her strong fingers along Dana’s body, swirling around her pink nipples, but never touching with enough pressure to actually give her any satisfaction. She hears Scully gasp and shudder a bit as she runs her fingers down the redhead’s abdomen, saving that knowledge for later when she has more time.

It strikes her that she wants there to be a later, and to be honest, it kind of scares her. She decides not to worry about it now, and pulls Scully’s wrists to the headboard, wishing she had something to tie her lover down with.

“Please, Clarice,” Scully moans as she sees her lover’s gorgeous breasts above her, just slightly out of reach, while she lets herself be pinned down. She wants Clarice to hurry up so badly, but has a suspicion that would only make Starling tease her more if she said it out loud.

“Please what, Dana? What do you want me to do?” Clarice kisses down Scully’s pale neck, leaving purple bruises that she knows will stay there for at least a few days. She hovers her mouth over Dana’s pink nipple, looking down at the redhead, “Is this what you want me to do?”

Dana has never been good at following orders, so she just arches her back instead, pushing up into Clarice’s mouth. She is rewarded with Clarice gently biting, her teeth sending electric shocks straight to Scully’s core. A moan escapes Scully’s mouth. She looks up at Clarice, needing to feel her right now. Clarice seems to understand, finally moving her hand down in between Scully’s thighs.

She pulls the redheads legs apart and is pleased with just how wet she has made Dana. She runs her fingers lightly across Dana’s thighs and roughly buries two fingers inside of her.

“Fuck me,” Dana moans out, surprised by the sudden contact. 

“That’s what I am trying to do, darlin’” Starling drawls out and is a little surprised when Dana looks up at her, biting her lip. Starling had no idea Dana had a thing for her accent.

Dana spreads her legs apart further, wanting more. Clarice gladly obliges, dropping down on her knees and tasting her lover. She moans at the taste and feels Scully buck a little at the sensation. Her tongue flicks at Dana’s clit in time with her thrusting fingers. She goes fast and then slow, never letting Dana find a pattern.

Somehow Dana gets even wetter and Clarice decides to stop teasing. She curls her fingers slightly and thrusts in as deep as she can. She drags her teeth against Scully’s clit and moans again when she feels Scully pulling her hair.

“Mmm, right there,” Dana somehow is able to say, pretending that she is the one in control. Clarice is making it very hard for her to think and she feels her orgasm building. She’s right on the edge and knows that if she begged Clarice, she would let her come in seconds. She instead decides to pull Starling’s hair again, forcing her to go deeper and lick harder. 

After less than a minute, Dana’s muscles clench and Starling curls her fingers more, making sure to hit Scully’s g spot instead of just teasing her. Dana screams out, even louder than Clarice did, and Starling feels Scully come hard, drenching the sheets. Dana keeps bucking and clenching Clarice’s fingers, riding the aftershocks of her orgasm. 

Suddenly, Dana goes perfectly still, breathing deeply. Clarice makes her way back up the bed, feeling smug that she was able to make Dana fall apart like that. She lays alongside Scully, spooning her and holding her closely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was fairly busy last week, so enjoy two chapters this time!


	6. Compromise

Dana wakes up to the sound of her cell phone ringing. She opens her eyes and doesn’t remember where she is, or when she even fell asleep. She sees Starling’s naked body on the bed lying next to her and smiles. 

She wraps herself in a blanket and heads over to the door to answer her phone, hoping she won’t wake up Starling. 

“Scully it’s me,” Mulder says, “Are you alright? I just stopped by the office to drop off a few files and saw your car still here.” 

Shit. Scully’s mind goes blank for a second, trying to come up with an excuse. Mulder knows her well enough to tell when she is lying, so she settles on the explanation closest to the truth.

“Yeah I’m fine. Starling wanted me to come over and show her the best places to eat around here,” Scully almost laughs at the innuendo, hoping that Mulder will just accept her answer. 

“Yes, I forgot you were the FBI’s unofficial tour guide,” he laughs, glad that Scully is okay. He tells her that Jane was not able to figure out any new information and asks Scully if she can take another look at the bodies for anything she might have missed.

“Sounds good, Mulder. I will see you tomorrow. Don’t stay out too late with Jane,” Scully says, trying to be serious. She hears a woman’s laughter in the background and the sound of Mulder shutting a car door.

“Okay Scully. Don’t stay out too late with Clarice, it is already five o’clock” he says, trying to make a joke and having no idea how close he is to the truth. Scully hangs up and sets her phone back on the table. 

Scully looks over at Clarice sleeping and feels a rush of emotions. She loves the way the evening sun casts shadows on Clarice’s face and thin body. Before she can think about her feelings anymore, Dana decides to jump in the shower.

She turns the water as hot as it can go and jumps in. She is no stranger to after-sex showers, she usually wakes up first anyway. Scully washes her hair with the tiny shampoo bottles that the hotel supplies and quickly washes her body. 

Scully grabs a towel from the counter and quickly dries off. She walks quietly across the room, trying to grab her clothes without waking Clarice up. She is an expert at sneaking out of rooms in the early morning hours, but it is a little different when she doesn’t have her car and it is only five in the evening.

She considers calling an Uber to take her back to her office, but changes her mind when she sees Clarice stirring a bit and then falling back to sleep.

Scully realizes she can’t just cut and run, she will have to face Starling anyway. She is quickly reminded of why she doesn’t sleep with her colleagues and silently curses herself for getting in that position in the first place. 

Now she is stuck. She could leave and go back to the office, but she knows it will hurt Starling. Even if this is a one-time thing, Scully wants to leave on a good note. Or, Scully could stay here. She could get undressed and hold Clarice in her arms as if she hadn’t woken up in the first place. 

This thought comes as a surprise. She rarely ever wants to cuddle with her hookups, leaving them with false hope. She thinks about how good it felt when Starling was begging, asking to be hers. Her heart flutters a bit, knowing that she wants this to be more than a hookup, but not knowing what to do about it.

She decides to walk to the pizza place next door, get them some food, and stop by the convenience store for some beer. Scully thinks that is a good half-way point between both options. She opens the door quietly, grabbing her wallet and jacket from the table and stepping out into the cool night air.

\---

Unfortunately, Starling wakes up just then and opens her eyes. She closes them, hoping that she did not just see Scully sneak out of her room. When she opens them again, her heart drops. She is no stranger to leaving quietly after a night of passionate sex, not the other way around.

After a quick trip to the bathroom, Starling finds Dana’s still-wet towels on the sink. She tries to ignore the way she is feeling. She thought that there might have been a spark with Scully and tries not to be disappointed. After all, that is what they agreed to. Two consenting adults having fun, not making any promises they couldn’t keep.

She is still hurt, even if she knows it is irrational. I mean, it’s not like she won’t see Scully tomorrow morning anyway. Her choices were either to have the awkward post-sex talk now, in her hotel room, or to dance around each other at work tomorrow. She takes a deep breath and decides to hop in the shower to clear her head.

The hot water feels good on Clarice’s skin, as if it is trying to wash away the memory of Scully inside of her. She knows she can remain professional tomorrow, but she can’t ignore the memory of how good Scully tasted and felt. She had been with many women before, but very few of them had ever really made her lose control like that. 

Clarice dries off with the one unused towel and looks at herself in the mirror. She sees bite marks on her collarbone and hipbones. They send a warm shock to her core until she realizes that Scully wasn’t actually marking her as her own. She probably just got caught up in the moment.

Clarice throws on some boyshorts and her sweater from earlier, turning the TV on for some distraction. She notices her phone died and plugs it in to charge. After flipping mindlessly through stations, she decides to play a game on her phone. Maybe that will distract her. 

She feels a rush of excitement when she sees she has a missed text from Scully. She briefly wonders if Dana said her goodbye via text, but truly doubts it. Scully is much too proper for that. She decides that no matter what the text is, she is not going to let it ruin her night. She decides to go out drinking later tonight if it doesn’t go well and then opens the text.

*Hey Starling. You looked so peaceful when you slept, and I just couldn’t wake you up. I am leaving to get some food, but I will be back soon. Hope you’re okay with pizza and cheap beer.*

Clarice feels foolish. She shouldn’t have assumed Dana was leaving for good, but reassures herself that she had no evidence otherwise. She tries to keep herself from smiling and feels like a teenager with a crush.

Dana said she looked peaceful. That means that she took a moment before leaving to look at Starling. Clarice has to stop herself before analyzing Scully. Dana might be a medical doctor, but Clarice is trained in psychology and profiles people for a living. She knows that there is no way she can be objective with her conclusions, so she decides to distract herself by reading the news on her phone.

She hears the door unlocking, realizing that Dana must have taken a key on her way out. She stands up to help Dana open the door, realizing that she only had on boyshorts and a tight sweater. She stays by the inside of the door, though, and Scully passes her a six pack of Dos Equis. Scully sets the pizza box on the table and quickly kisses Starling’s cheek. Her lips are blissfully cold, and Starling can’t help but smile.

“I promise we do have healthy food on this side of DC,” Scully laughs, realizing that pizza was barely any better than cheeseburgers. She is struck by how sexy Starling is without even trying. 

Clarice holds on to Scully’s face with both hands and kisses her. “I wanted to make sure you weren’t too cold, Dana,” she replies when Scully looks at her, surprised. Before Clarice can stop her, Dana reaches her hands under Starling’s sweater and grabs her breasts.

“Dana, what the fuck! Your hands are like ice cubes,” Clarice squeals, even though Dana’s hands are cold, they are still touching her and that is a win-win. 

“What? You said you wanted to make sure I wasn’t cold,” Scully shrugs and takes off her coat. She walks over to put the beer in the freezer, but gets distracted by Clarice’s hard nipples showing through her sweater. Clarice notices her staring and feels a rush of excitement. She grabs two beers from the case and lets Scully put the rest in the freezer. 

Dana takes off her scarf and Clarice starts laughing. Dana raises an eyebrow, wondering what was so funny about that. 

“Come here,” Clarice leads Scully by the hand to the bathroom and stands behind her while she looks in the mirror. Scully’s face pales, even more than usual.

“Starling! You do realize that I will not be able to cover these up with makeup, right?” The marks on her neck and chest are too dark and purple to be covered up. She turns around and pins Clarice to the bathroom door. 

Starling is excited, wanting the redhead to kiss her. She closes her eyes and feels a sharp pain on the side of her neck, much different than the soft kiss she was expecting. Scully looks at her with a grin, pleased with her work.

“Now we’re even,” Scully laughs and kisses Clarice deeply. Neither of the women can explain it, but they just feel so comfortable together that they decide not to question it. 

Clarice’s stomach growls, reminding them that there is warm pizza and cold beer waiting for them. They walk over to the table at the front of the room and eat, not realizing how hungry they had gotten. They don’t talk much while eating, but keep stealing glances at each other.

After a couple beers, Clarice and Scully make their way over to the bed. This time they just sit beside each other, Dana resting her head on Clarice’s shoulder. Clarice rubs Scully’s back, liking the way that Dana responds to her touch. Suddenly, Dana yelps.

“That hurt, what did you do?” Clarice is confused for a second, but then remembers clawing Dana’s back right before her orgasm.

“I may or may not have scratched your back earlier,” Clarice says, with false modesty. Dana blushes, but pretends not to remember. 

“Hmm, and when would that have happened?” Now it is Clarice’s turn to blush. Her mind goes blank at the memory of Dana in between her thighs. She decides not to answer, but kisses the redhead and climbs on her lap. 

She pulls Dana’s shirt over her head, first unbuttoning it just enough so it will fit. She gently runs her fingers over the scratch marks on Dana’s back and hears her hiss with pleasure. Dana kisses Clarice, looking up at her and trying to figure out what she is feeling. 

Clarice groans and suddenly sits back. “Dana, I didn’t pack any turtlenecks! How am I going to cover this hickey?”

Dana laughs and offers to help pick out her outfit, sure she will find something that works. After opening the suitcase, Dana realizes that Clarice really did only have sweaters or shirts that were slightly lower cut. Dana sees a black piece of fabric and pulls it out, thinking that it is a scarf.

Dana’s mouth drops as she realizes it is a crotchless bodysuit. Clarice groans and covers her face with her hand.

“You weren’t supposed to see that. I just packed it as an afterthought, not like I intended to hook up--” Clarice stops when she realized that Scully was looking back and forth between Clarice and the lace bodysuit. She stands up and clears her throat.

“Okay one, I will lend you one of my scarves tomorrow, so we can cover that up. Two, now that I have found this, you have to wear it for me sometime.” Dana smiles, thinking about how much fun it will be to undo all of the buttons when she takes it off Clarice.

“So Dana, about that,” Clarice pauses, unsure of how to say what she is thinking. How does she say that somehow she is falling for the redhead? That’s not what you are supposed to do for one night stands.

“No, Clarice, I am sorry for assuming that there would be another time. I completely understand,” Dana blurts out, putting the bodysuit back in its pocket. She stands up and looks over at Clarice, wondering what she was thinking in the first place. 

“Dana, wait. Come here,” Clarice pats on the bed next to her, wanting to tell Scully this face to face. “Scully, I don’t know what happened. I was perfectly content with just a hookup ever since you started teasing me in the office. But when I woke up and you weren’t here, I assumed you had left. I’ve done it too, more times than I care to admit. But all of those times, I never felt disappointed. Dana, there is something about you that makes me want this to not end tonight. I want to spend time with you, get to know you. And to be quite honest, I want you to fuck me like that again.”

Dana looks up at Clarice, unable to speak. She closes the distance between them and kisses Starling, trying to think of a response. 

“Starling, I don’t date colleagues, and I sure as hell don’t normally catch feelings for my one-night stands. You’re different and it scares me and excites me,” Scully whispers against Clarice’s neck. She kisses her then, tiny neck kisses that tickle Clarice just a little bit.

“So what do we want to do about this? I don’t want you to feel pressured, but I can definitely keep it professional at work. I just want to see you again.” Starling looks into Scully’s eyes, trying to read her emotions. 

“I want to see you again too. I want to finish this case as soon as we can, but I don’t want you to leave. I am worried about trying to start something when I know you are just going to leave,” Scully looks vulnerable and Clarice wraps her in her arms. She kisses Scully’s forehead. 

“Listen, I only live an hour away. You are completely allowed to say no. But I would like to try. Even if it’s just physical, I want to spend as much time with you as I can. You kind of got me hooked, darlin’,” Clarice kisses her again. 

“You can’t try to manipulate me with your accent, it’s not fair. It’s not my fault you turn me on. I want you. And as long as we both go into this with the same mindset, that’s good enough for me,” Dana kisses her soft lips and closes her eyes. She could get used to this, she thinks. 

Clarice laughs after Scully pulls away. She knew that Scully had a thing for her accent, that much was obvious from earlier in the night, but she did not know it was strong enough to be considered a manipulation tool. 

“Do you think that Mulder will be able to tell?” Clarice asks. She barely knows him, but he knows Scully probably better than anyone else.

Scully recounts her earlier phone call, telling Clarice that she told him that Clarice wanted her to “come over and help her find some place to eat.” She can barely get through the sentence without laughing.

“You did not. No way,” Starling laughs.

“Yep, besides, he can always tell if I am lying…. So I try to creatively tell the truth. Luckily he is pretty wrapped up in his new girlfriend, but I doubt he would even care if he did know.” Scully suddenly remembers that she should probably head home at some point tonight, to move her car from the lot and change her clothes.

Starling pouts a little bit when Dana tells her, not ready to let the redhead leave. “I can drive you back to your apartment in the morning and then we can head to work,” she offers, wanting to spend the night in Scully’s arms. She can tell that Scully is really considering it, but then Scully gets up and walks over to her purse. Clarice is worried that she is going to pick it up and leave, but she just grabs her phone. 

“As much as I really don’t want to leave, I have some stuff to take care of at my apartment. Would you mind driving me back to my car?” Scully looks at the floor, wanting to spend the night with Clarice, but also wanting a little bit of time to process her feelings. Plus, she really does have some chores and stuff to do.

“Okay, I will take you back to your car on one condition,” Scully raises her eyebrow, waiting for Clarice to continue. Clarice smiles and walks over to where Dana is standing.

“You have to take me out on a date tomorrow. A real date, not take out,” Clarice looks at Dana, never noticing before how they were almost the exact same height.

Scully kisses her on the forehead and accepts begrudgingly, as if she is doing a really big favor for Clarice. 

The ride from the hotel room to the Hoover Building parking lot is mostly uneventful, both of the women exhausted from the physical and mental connection they felt for each other. When Clarice pulls up next to Scully’s car, she turns and looks at Dana. She grabs the redhead’s face and kisses her passionately.

“I don’t want you to forget about me tonight,” she says, pausing to take a breath and then continuing making out with Scully. 

“I don’t think I will be forgetting about you for a long time. But I might forget to bring you a scarf, so text me in the morning please. I would give you this one, but even Mulder would know what was going on. 

Dana kisses Clarice one more time and then heads to her car. She watches the headlights fade and finally heads towards her apartment. Even though she wanted to stay with Clarice tonight, she knows that they need a little time apart before work tomorrow. She looks forward to her date tomorrow night, though.

Scully unlocks her apartment door and sheds her clothes. She changes into her warm robe and curls up in her bed. She finishes the last couple of episodes of a crime documentary series, and drifts off to sleep.


	7. The Morning After

Clarice wakes up before her alarm and jumps out of bed. With all of her not-so-healthy food choices recently, she feels the need to go on a run. She is unfamiliar with this part of DC, but it is crowded enough that she feels safe just heading out on the sidewalk.

Clarice puts in her headphones and starts jogging. Within minutes, she feels ready to break out into a full run. She changes to her running playlist on Spotify and sprints off. After about 20 minutes, she switches to jogging on her way back to the hotel. She normally runs longer, but wants to make sure she has plenty of time to get ready and meet up with Scully before work.

She hops in the shower to freshen up and walks naked back into her room. She doesn’t normally have issues deciding what to wear, but she feels self conscious. She knows that Scully will be excited to see her regardless of what she wears, but she wants to put in a little extra effort.

She decides to settle on a black tank top paired with a blazer and grey dress pants. She texts Dana a reminder about the scarf and crosses her fingers that the redhead actually brings one. She tries to cover the marks up with makeup but she feels like that makes it more noticeable.

Clarice, blessed with nice skin, rarely wears makeup. The most she does is some eyeliner and mascara. She puts some on today, subtly, but still enough for Scully to notice. If she is being honest, she’s not going through these extra steps just for Scully, she likes the way it makes her feel when she has some time for self care. 

She sprays on a little bit of perfume in all of the spots she recently discovered that Scully likes and heads out. She swings by the coffee shop again, this time making sure that Mulder will have enough creamer and sugar. She will talk to Mulder and Scully about their normal coffee situation, but she likes making a good impression for their team.

Her cell phone buzzes as she is waiting for her coffee, and Clarice gets excited when she sees Dana’s name. 

*Good morning Starling! I did remember to bring a scarf for you, but you have to meet me in my car to get it* 

Clarice replies back, telling Scully that she will be there in about ten minutes. After picking up her coffee order, she heads back to her car and starts the navigation to the Hoover Building.

Starling realizes that she doesn’t know what type of car Scully drives, but is relieved to see her parked in a black Subaru SUV. Her heart flutters a bit, wondering if there is going to be a catch to getting the scarf, and if that is the reason Scully is parked so far out. 

She steps out of her car and locks it as she walks over to Scully’s car. She doesn’t think that Dana has seen her yet, so she taps on the window. Scully jumps and motions for her to go around to the other side.

Scully gives her a brief kiss when she enters and makes a comment about how startling it is to get a knock on her side window. Clarice quickly apologizes and gives Dana a kiss on her cheek.

“I promise I will make it up to you later, after our date!” Clarice reassures and turns to fully look at Scully. She is speechless. Dana is so beautiful and she doesn’t even know it. Her outfit is a little bit less teasing than the one yesterday, but mainly because she had to cover up all of the marks that Clarice left on her.

The two women have about fifteen minutes until they need to be in the office, but they don’t want to head out, not yet. 

“So what is the catch?” Clarice asks as Scully gives her a soft black scarf. She is excited for whatever Scully is going to say next. 

“I know we have a date tonight, but you have to let me take you to the light festival this weekend” Scully tries to keep the excitement out of her voice when she says “date,” and if Starling notices, she doesn’t say anything about it. 

Clarice pretends to mull it over and even jokingly starts to take off the scarf. She quickly stops joking when she sees that for once Scully is the nervous one.

“Yes, I would very much like that,” Clarice gives the redhead a deep kiss, stopping only when she feels Dana’s breath getting deeper. They both wish they had time and space for more.

“Good, because after all of the beer lately, it will feel nice to walk around the city with you. I am usually more of a wine girl, by the way.”

Scully smiles and Clarice is pretty sure that it is the cutest thing she has ever seen. She can’t wait to see the winter lights festival with Clarice. The two women start to head into the office, kind of sad that they did not have time for more kissing or talking, but excited at the prospect of not having the extra tension between them at work, unlike yesterday.

Mulder just so happens to be walking in at the same time and gladly takes one of the coffees from Starling’s hand, obviously still groggy. He takes a sip and is happy that Starling remembered to get one with lots of cream and sugar, basically milk with a little coffee is how he likes it. 

“Don’t get used to it Mulder, I can’t afford to bring you in coffee everyday!” Starling laughs and Mulder says that she and Scully just usually go to the lobby and get coffee or tea if they need it. 

They all ride the elevator down together and walk down the small hallway to the basement office. Clarice trips over one of the many boxes piled up on the floor and Scully is quick to help her up. The redhead lets her touch linger just a little bit longer than she probably should, but not long enough to be inappropriate.

Even though they had a brief makeout session in the office yesterday, the two women had decided to keep it as professional as possible from now on so they can actually focus on the case. As infatuated as they are with each other, they are both the type of agents who are married to their job and genuinely want to work hard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a short chapter this time, but more coming soon. My wife has really gotten into watching Law and Order SVU (finally, I have seen it all 4 or 5 times), so I have been a little distracted. Thank you all for your feedback!


	8. Focused

Scully tells Mulder and Starling that she is heading to the morgue to see if she missed anything on the autopsy. She has a feeling that, with this new possible connection, she might see something different about the freckles. There is no way they naturally all had freckles that mapped out their eventual place they would be discovered at, Scully thinks. 

At least she really hopes so. If this is a supernatural case, there would be almost no way to prevent these murders. She can’t have the FBI just release a press statement that warns all women with neck freckles to stay indoors.

When she gets to the morgue, she puts on her scrubs. She pulls back her hair and removes the scarf. Thankfully, she is the only one around. There is no safe and sanitary way to cover the marks right now.

Scully almost gasps when she looks at victim 7’s neck. What appeared to be freckles were actually tattoos. Scully had no reason to look closely at them before, the woman had freckles in other places too.

She holds her magnifier closely, inspecting the tattoo. Scully knew it must have been done by a professional or at least someone who knew a lot about tattooing.

One of the biggest reasons these tattoos looked real was the fact that whoever put them there used exactly the right amount of pressure and exactly the right angle to make the marks. This wasn’t your average at-home stick and poke tattoo. Scully would guess that this person had some sort of professional training or at least an unofficial mentor.

Scully breathes deeply through her face mask, hoping that because the mysterious patterns are actually tattoos, they are dealing with a non-supernatural human. Humans she can handle. Now that she knows exactly what she is looking for, she thinks it should be easier to find the killer. After seven victims, the FBI had given them full access to resources. 

Dana wants to believe it is because they actually care about the victims, but she knows it is just political bullshit. Just another attempt to keep the cases and The X-Files out of the media. Not that Dana wants to be published, she has had more than enough criticisms and just wants her privacy.

She takes off her gloves with a loud snap and throws them away. She continues with her normal routine of clean up, grateful that she was able to re-examine the body before it had been claimed or destroyed. She changes out of her scrubs back into her normal clothes. She almost forgets about her scarf, but catches her mistake just in time.

Dana heads back to her basement office, excited that she has a possible update on the case. Both Mulder and Starling are brilliant agents, always thinking of every possible explanation, even if it sounded made-up. 

\-----

Starling and Mulder have both been researching the lore of the places the victims’ bodies were found. Clarice researches lunar cycles and astronomical phenomena that have happened in the past several months, trying to figure out when the murders happened. 

She is getting slightly frustrated. In ritual-like murders similar to this, the moon cycle is almost always followed. Werewolves are commonly linked with the moon, but in reality a lot of monsters like them are linked as well. Especially the murderous monsters. 

“Clarice, each murder seems to take place within a timespan of a normal moon cycle, right? After the second victim?” Mulder asked.

She feels like she is so close to finding the answer, but still so far. The solution is something that is on the tip of her tongue, but she is not able to grasp it. And what about the fourth victim? Why was she found in her own pool, unlike all of the other victims?

Age, that has to be the clue, Starling thinks. Vampires are believed to be immortal, so that does not really narrow down a good time frame. Clarice asks Mulder to give her a recap of the research he has found so far. 

“Well the first literary vampire book, The Vampyre, was written in 1819. It was pretty popular, but not very many people were writing vampire books at the time. Dracula did not come out until 1897.”

Clarice gasps and makes her way over to the laptop. She has to step carefully over stacks and stacks of papers on the floor. Sometimes Clarice (and other people) forget that Mulder has a degree in psychology. Behind all of the jokes and seemingly far-fetched ideas, Mulder is well studied and passionate. 

Once again, technology has made their jobs a hell of a lot easier. What would have taken hours and hours of pouring over an almanac for a lead that was not even guaranteed takes fifteen minutes of searching. 

Startling fervently writes down dates, times, and every bit of information she thinks could be even mildly related to the case. 

“Mulder, read out the first three cases to me, give me the dates and locations of the bodies,” Clarice knows that she is close. She chews on the end of her pen, a bad habit she can't get rid of. There is something about working with Mulder that makes her feel like an equal.

She is no longer “that agent” known for her supposed “one big catch.” Nobody is tiptoeing around her, nobody glancing a little too long at her. She was never sure if her coworkers in the “boy’s club” were looking at her body or wanting to ask her questions about Hannibal.

Sometimes Starling wonders if that is all she will ever be known for. It is not that she wants notoriety or even a star-studded career. All she has ever wanted was to do her damn job, be treated like the good agent she is.

Mulder has had his fair share of mocking and Starling thinks this is one of the biggest reasons that she feels comfortable working with him. He has a way of cutting through the bullshit of other people’s opinions.

“First vic was July 22nd, she was in the water for less than 48 hours when we found her. Second vic was found at the end of July, barely a week after the other one,” Mulder flips through his notes. A couple of the pages are upside down, so he has to look a bit for the next date. 

“Ah, she was found on July 30th,” Mulder clarifies. He is interested in Starling’s findings. 

Starling writes down the first two dates. 7/22/1819 was the night of the new moon and 7/30/1819 was the first quarter moon. She shares this with Mulder and they continue to draw parallels.

“It looks like there was a brief gap until August 5th--” Mulder stops when he hears Starling’s gasp. He moves over to Scully’s desk, where Clarice is currently stationed. One or two corresponding dates could be a coincidence, but not three.

After a quick comparison, the agents realize that other than victims 1, 2, and 4, all of the bodies have been found on a full moon, but from 1819. 

Scully walks in then, excited to give the other agents her update. This is the furthest they have come to catching this killer, despite hours and hours of research. The problem with this case was that there were so many elements and so many little details that could have been overlooked by local law enforcement before Mulder and Scully were looped in.

Both Starling and Mulder glanced up as soon as they noticed Scully walked in the room. Dana gave a small smile to them both, happy to see they were getting along. Not that she was surprised. But the office was a tight fit for just Mulder and herself and even tighter including Clarice.

Dana shares her findings about the freckle tattoos first. “I am not ruling out supernatural causes, but I do think this is more likely to be human than a vampire,” Scully says. She has come a long way from her original skepticism. She has accepted that there are some things that just don’t have a scientific answer. 

Surprisingly, Mulder agrees with her observation. He gives her a brief overview of the killer’s timeline and its correlation with the 1819 moon phases. 

“The last vic was found on 12/1, which means that we probably have until 12/31 to prevent another murder. All of the pieces are starting to come together now at least,” Mulder looks proud. It is crazy how each of the three agents bring a diverse background and how each piece of the puzzle they have solved so far might have taken much longer without their combined experiences.

While Mulder is speaking, Starling steals quick glances at Dana. She knows that Scully is just like her, married to the job, but it is fascinating to watch how intensely focused Scully can be on the matters at hand. Gone are the earlier traces of flirting and distracting. This is not a bad thing, though. Clarice admires the way they can work together, all of them, as a team. 

Mulder pauses, giving Scully a chance to look at the scattered mess of paperwork. She starts straightening the papers, more out of habit than out of real annoyance. She drops a paper on the ground and bends over to pick it up. The back of her shirt comes untucked, and Starling glimpses part of a tattoo. She can’t quite make it out, but she sees half of a colorful circle. She can’t stop herself from biting her lip.

She is a bit surprised that she didn’t notice the tattoo before, but to be quite honest, her eyes and hands were focused elsewhere. She makes a mental note to investigate later. 

Starling blushes at the thought of “later,” of their upcoming date, and the memories of last night. So much for being focused. Unfortunately for Starling, Mulder does catch her staring this time and notices her face turn red. The curse of being fair skinned. Mulder decides not to tease Starling. 

Scully swears that she feels Clarice’s stare, but it’s probably wishful thinking. She turns around and her suspicions are confirmed. Starling is flushed. It really isn’t that noticeable unless you are looking for it. She suppresses the urge to wink. She has been so good about staying focused today. 

Scully decides to compromise and meet Clarice’s eyes. She swears they are a deeper shade of blue, that her pupils are dilated. She looks away because she notices Mulder looking back and forth between them. If he doesn’t know for sure, he at least has his suspicions. Mulder clears his throat before the tension rises.

Mulder asks Scully some more questions about the tattoos. She had said they were done by hand from someone with precise skills, but Mulder wants to know more about the process. Scully explains about the difference between teenagers messing around with ballpoint pen ink and sewing needles as compared to a professional needle and tattoo ink. 

“I don’t want to bore you with medical terms,” Scully finishes, “but basically it comes down to a tattoo that will fade in 6 months versus one that will last years.” 

Scully unconsciously thinks about her tattoo and the last time she mixed business with pleasure. Then, she was terrified with the idea of having cancer and decided to do something--anything to make her feel alive. 

What was her excuse now? As much as she enjoyed last night, old habits die hard and she finds herself terrified of falling for Starling. She reminds herself again that this is just sex, it is just casual. She knows that she can handle being casual. 

“Oh shit,” Mulder looks at the clock on the wall, noticing that it is already 4. He has a date with Jane at 5 and still has to go home to change. He quickly wishes the ladies good night. Scully reminds him that she wants to go over some information with Jane on Monday. 

They wait until they hear the elevator doors close and make their way to each other, subconsciously repeating the same actions they did yesterday. Their eyes meet and Clarice sits on the edge of Dana’s desk.

“Have you figured out where you are going to take me out tonight?,” Starling laughs. She is excited for her date tonight in spite of herself. 

“Hmm, how about Italian? Some pasta, a bottle of wine, maybe even some dessert if you are feeling up for it…” Scully offers. She shows no indication of her previous doubts. Dana wants to enjoy this time with Clarice and not worry about what comes next. 

Clarice nods and offers to pick Scully up in two hours. The women both want time to get ready.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all of your kudos and comments! I will try to post the next chapter as soon as I can :)


	9. Nervous

The drive back to the hotel seems to take much longer than 20 minutes. Clarice’s fingers drum out a pattern on the steering wheel. God, it has been so long since she felt like this. 

As soon as she closes the door to the hotel room, she lets out a sigh she didn’t know she was holding. She jumps in the shower and turns the water as cold as she can stand. Anything to make her pulse slow down. As she dries off, she starts thinking about what she should wear. 

Scully stopped looking through the suitcase after finding Clarice’s bodysuit, but Starling did pack some other, more formal, clothes. She had already hung them up and put them in the tiny closet so they wouldn’t wrinkle. 

Starling makes a mental note to go shopping for turtlenecks or scarves sometime this weekend. Dana’s black scarf will look good with the dress she plans to wear tonight, but she doesn’t want to keep borrowing the scarf. Even Mulder would notice. 

She looks in the mirror after putting on the black halter dress. Even though she feels a bit self conscious, she can’t wait to see Scully’s reaction to her backless dress. It is freezing outside since it is early December, but Clarice can keep her warm coat on until she gets to the restaurant. 

She does her makeup and puts on more eyeliner than usual. She debates putting on red lipstick, but she doesn’t normally wear any. She isn’t even sure why she still has it. Plus, Clarice knows that she can’t resist kissing Scullly’s neck and this specific shade is a bitch to fully wipe off. 

She takes one last look in the mirror before heading to her car. Clarice takes a deep breath, unsure of why she is so nervous. 

Maybe it is because going on a date with Dana means that she needs to be fully present, that she can’t just let her body and desires lead the way. A sudden memory of Ardelia flits through her mind. The first time they went on a real date ended up being one of their first fights as a couple. 

Before that night, Ardelia and Clarice were more like roommates with benefits rather than a couple. They slept with each other, but there was no promise of monogamy. Not that was spoken anyway.

At dinner that evening, Ardelia had told Clarice that she loved her. It was three simple words, but suddenly Clarice felt trapped, like she was caught in a cage. The declaration of commitment had seemed so far away that Starling felt the need to rush away from the table, to go outside to get some air. 

Later that night, though, Starling had moaned out an “I love you,” during their makeup sex. It was rough and raw, not like any of their past lovemaking. It was one of the scariest moments in her life, even more terrifying at that time than her criminal research. 

*You’re older now,* she thinks, *and this isn’t love. You’re feeling this way because Scully is incredibly good with her mouth and hands and a damn good agent.*

\----------------

Scully turns the volume up on her speaker, as loud as she can without disturbing her neighbors. She might live in an apartment, but the walls are surprisingly soundproof. Stevie Nicks’s voice fills the emptiness of the living room. 

Scully catches a glance of herself in the mirror as she moves towards her shower. The long column of her neck is covered in bruises, and she sees a bite mark on the top of her right breast. 

She almost rolls her eyes. Scully tells her reflection in the mirror that she is walking a thin line, but knows she never follows her own advice. The music has turned to Joan Jett’s “Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah). So fitting. The song takes her right back to her college years. A time when she was wild, smoking cigarettes and doing anything to relieve the crushing stress of med school.

One steamy shower later, Scully steps onto her memory foam mat and dries off. She makes her way to her closet. Suddenly, it is as if she has nothing to wear. Scully can’t even remember the last time she went out to dinner, much less with a date. Carmines is a nice restaurant, but not too formal luckily. 

She settles on a low cut red dress. It won’t hide the marks on her neck at all, but Scully isn’t so sure she cares now that they aren’t at work. She does try to cover up the bruises with concealer though. Then she adds a bit of setting powder. They are covered enough so they might be overlooked unless someone was studying her neck and chest. Someone like Starling. 

Dana likes the thought of shocking Clarice. Much more than she cares to admit. As she finishes her makeup, she feels some of her earlier nervousness creeping back in. 

The redhead normally doesn’t wear high heels, more out of comfort than anything else, but she wants the extra height. Something about making Clarice have to look up to kiss her turns Dana on. 

The doorbell rings just as she is putting on her shoes. She answers the door with a smile.

“Come in,” Dana says, her eyes lighting up the minute she sees Clarice. 

Starling walks through the door and her first thought is about how neat and orderly everything is. Almost like a model apartment, unlived in. Her second thought, after she sees Dana’s red dress, is that they might not even make it to dinner. 

Within seconds, Clarice has Dana pinned against the door’s frame. She goes to kiss Scully and notices the high heels. This is not normally something that turns her on, but nothing is normal with Dana. She rises on her toes and then captures the other agent’s lips, kissing her roughly. 

After a couple moments Scully lets out a moan and moves her thigh forward, pressing up against Clarice. Starling bites Dana’s lip in response. She would be more than happy to fuck Clarice here, against her living room wall. But she’s hungry in more ways than one. And food is winning this time. 

“Dinner first, dessert later,” Scully manages to whisper. Clarice’s lips had trailed down to her neck now. Scully pushes Clarice back, immediately missing the full body contact. 

Clarice groans in protest. She breathes deeply and takes a bit to drink all of Scully in. The scent of lavender and orange fills the space between them. The fabric on Dana’s dress is silky and soft. 

Scully grabs Clarice by her hand and leads her to the door. 

“What?” she asks, “I am hungry…” 

Clarice is hungry too, so she just follows Scully’s lead. Scully locks the door, and they make their way down the hallway with no interruptions. Clarice even avoids touching Scully’s ass because she has no self control and that would only lead to more frustration. 

Starling walks to the passenger side and opens the car door for Dana. Scully blushes at this small sign of affection. The Mustang makes a purring sound when Clarice hits the gas. The women talk a bit on the way, just small talk, to ease some of the tension they are both feeling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 10 will be posted shortly! It is a longer one and the ladies *finally* go on their date. Thanks for all of the kudos!


	10. Premeditated

Premeditated. The word flits through Starling’s mind. Unlike her usual one night stands or dates, this date with Scully is premeditated. This is the first time in nearly five years, with very few exceptions, that she has actually been on a real date. 

Clarice doesn’t want to address that thought, not yet, so she grabs Dana’s hand and drives with her other. She feels Scully squeeze back and intertwine their fingers. 

They make it to the restaurant and surprisingly get a booth as soon as they walk in. Scully picks the side that is facing the door, a habit from her early FBI training. 

Both of the women take off their coats and Scully’s jaw drops when she sees Clarice’s black dress. The coat she had been wearing hid the fact that her dress was backless. All Scully can think about is how good that black dress would look on the floor. Clarice just winks while she, too, checks out her date’s outfit and has very similar thoughts. 

Trying to stay focused, Clarice browses the menu and honestly can’t figure out what she wants. Everything looks so great. She is still looking at the menu when their waiter walks over.

He offers a sample of wine, and the women accept. The wine is much too sweet for Clarice, but still rather good. Scully glances at her and sees that she is still reading the menu. She orders a bottle of Malbec and nods when the waiter says he will be back with bread and wine shortly.

“I hope it was okay to order for you. It didn’t look like you enjoyed the Reisling,” Scully says. 

She starts to realize that there are so many things they don’t know about each other. Things they would have no reason to learn if they were just temporary coworkers or one night stands. These are things they would only learn if they were longtime partners or friends, the way that she and Mulder know each other. 

Scully finds herself wanting to know more about Clarice. 

“Everything here looks wonderful, I don’t even know what to pick. And yes, I prefer dry wines,” Clarice states. Starling talks faster and rambles when she is nervous. She and Scully look over the menu in silence until the waiter returns with the wine. Clarice orders ravioli al vodka and Scully orders chicken parmesan. 

After the menus are cleared, the women quickly tear into the bread. They are both starving and need to eat something so the wine doesn’t go straight to their heads. 

“I haven’t done this in a while,” Scully says, meeting Clarice’s eyes. “A real date, I mean.”

Clarice is a bit surprised. Even though Scully had admitted that she hadn’t had a one-night stand in a while, it seems like Dana could get any man --or woman-- that she wanted. At the very least for a date. Starling admits that she hasn’t done this in years. Whatever “this” is.

“Tell me something about yourself, Starling, something that most other people don’t know,” Scully asks the first question, trying to lighten the mood. Clarice chokes a bit on her water when she feels Scully’s shoe gently rubbing up against her right calf. Scully smiles, her confidence growing.

“Well, that wouldn’t be too hard, you know. I don’t open up to many people,” Clarice admits. She could make up something on the spot and Dana would never know. She opts for the truth.

She clears her throat, “I love collecting records. Sometimes I will sit in my room for hours, just listening to music, hearing the little pops and skips that only vinyl offers.” It seems like a small confession and she feels silly as soon as she finishes. This is not some scandalous admission, just a sad reminder that she doesn’t let people in very often. 

“My turn. Who was your first love?” Clarice decides to change the subject entirely. She wants to get to know Scully, maybe throw her off guard. 

Scully blushes and asks if she means her first “real” love. When Clarice nods, Scully continues. “There was this girl who I went to school with. Lena. When we were in high school, we spent everyday together and spent the night at each other’s houses at least a couple times a week.”

“When did you realize you wanted to be more than friends?” Clarice almost asked when she knew it was love, but a teenager’s perception of love is so much different than an adult's. 

“Well she was telling me all about how she had a crush on Thomas, some guy in our grade. She kept talking about how nice it would be to kiss him and be held by him and I just got... possessive? I guess. That is when I realized I was in love with her.” Scully leaves out the part about how her friend’s mom walked in on them kissing and how Lena was forced to move less than two weeks later. She also skips the part where Thomas ended up being her second love and first sexual experience.

Scully is about to ask another question, but their food arrives. They both start eating immediately, suddenly aware that they missed lunch today since they were so busy. 

They make small talk while eating, but mostly enjoy the good food. “It was a terrific choice,” she tells Dana. 

After a couple glasses of wine, Clarice looks over at Scully and suddenly can’t take her eyes off the deep red neckline. She is trying so hard not to stare and feels a rush of pride when she sees the faint coloring of the hickies she left last night. She can’t believe she didn’t notice them earlier.

Scully follows her gaze and winks, happy her intuition was correct. She excuses herself and goes into the restroom. As she is washing her hands, she looks in the mirror. Her reflection is smiling and flushed. She quickly dries her hands and makes her way back to the table. 

She runs her hands lightly across Clarice’s shoulders as she walks by. There is a smirk on her face as she sits back in the booth. 

“What are you thinking right now? And be honest,” Scully asks innocently.

Clarice is surprised and almost doesn’t answer.

“Come on, you asked me to talk about my first love,” Scully reminds her. 

Clarice’s face and chest must look like they are on fire. “I like bondage. Tying others up mostly, although I can be convinced otherwise,” Clarice looks deep in her eyes then, as if daring Scully to try to convince her. 

Scully starts to respond, but the waiter comes by to take their plates. If he overheard their conversation, he makes no mention of it. He just offers them the dessert menu. 

“What is on your mind, Dr. Scully?” Clarice asks when Dana tries to take the dessert menu from her.

“I’m wondering why bondage was on your mind. And I am thinking about how I definitely enjoy bondage. Now I am thinking about how I like minor S&M, nothing too crazy but I admit I enjoy it. I like candle/wax play,” Scully looks at her dead in the eyes and continues, “Is that enough for me to see the dessert menu?”

Clarice laughs and agrees. The ladies decide on a chocolate lava cake. Scully’s eyebrow arches when her date orders dessert to go. Clarice just winks again, loving the way that Dana responds to her flirting. 

\------------

The second the women return to the car, their hands are all over each other. If she wasn’t sure earlier, she is now: there is no way in hell that Starling’s tinted windows are legal. 

Somehow even with the front console between them, they become one. Hands tangled in hair, lips locked tightly, barely stopping even to breathe. 

They probably could have continued like that for quite some time, but Clarice is getting too turned on. With a tone of regret, she leans away from Dana. 

“We should slow down,” she says, breathlessly. 

Scully just looks at her, knowing that she is right but not wanting to stop. 

“Don’t look at me like that, you are the one who wouldn’t let me touch you before dinner. And you’re the one who kept trying to play with me under the table,” Starling glares. 

Scully begins to pout as Clarice pulls out of the parking lot. Clarice is completely sober, but Dana is definitely under the influence of wine and lust. The curse of being a lightweight. She reaches her hand over, starting to touch Clarice’s thigh. 

Clarice’s breath hitches, but she keeps both hands on the wheel and focuses on driving, trying so hard to ignore the heat between her legs that only keeps getting more intense. Dana inches her fingers higher, dipping under the edge of the black dress. She feels Clarice stiffen, but she doesn’t stop. She knows that Clarice is focused on driving and there’s nobody on the road right now anyway. 

Clarice is trying so hard not to make a sound or response to Scully’s teasing. She knows from last night that Dana can be merciless, and she doesn’t want to wait that long again. It is getting difficult with each passing moment. 

“Dana, quit it,” Clarice moans out when she feels her date's fingers reach her inner thigh, just inches from what Clarice can only assume is their final destination. 

“You’re telling me that you never wanted to be fucked in a car? Never thought of getting roadhead?” Scully herself can hardly believe the words spilling out of her mouth. She feels almost out of control, captivated by Clarice’s reactions. 

Clarice doesn’t answer, just lets out a sound that is almost like a growl and safely pulls her car to the side of the road. Once the car is parked, she takes off her seatbelt. She turns and glares at Scully, expressing something between hunger and irritation.

Starling grabs the back of Dana’s neck and pulls her closer, kissing her hard. The hand that is not around Dana’s neck makes its way down, brushing circles over Scully’s tight abdomen. 

Scully sighs loudly. She whispers against Clarice’s lips, “Mm you remembered?”

“How could I forget?” 

A couple of headlights go by, illuminating Scully’s fiery red hair. As much as Clarice would like to continue this, she does not want to have to explain why two FBI agents were on the side of the road this late at night. 

Clarice kisses Scully deeply and then pulls back quickly. 

“Let’s make a deal.”

Scully looks up with wide eyes, interested. 

“We only have ten minutes until we get to the hotel. If you can keep your hands off of me until then, I will make it worth your while,” Clarice almost laughs when she sees Scully visibly considering all of her options. 

She nods solemnly. 

Scully smiles. She is a little drunk from the wine, but almost equally as inebriated from teasing Clarice.


	11. Chocolate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is mostly AU and I am taking liberties with the original timeline. However, in this book I picture season 5 Scully. Her haircut was adorable and it is one of my favorite seasons.

For the most part, Scully was able to behave until the women got back to the hotel. She did reach across the console and rest her hand on Clarice’s thigh, but she didn’t try to tease Clarice further. 

Clarice locks the door to the hotel and is surprised when Scully doesn’t try to feel her up. Instead, Scully walks over to the mini fridge to get some water. She drinks and then offers some to Clarice, who gratefully accepts. 

Scully helps Clarice take off her jacket and is once again distracted by her strong shoulders and upper back. She feels Clarice shudder as she gently kisses the back of her neck. 

Both of the jackets are laid neatly on a chair. Clarice takes a moment just to look at Scully. She is breathtaking. Scully notices her looking and smirks. 

“Clarice, can you unzip me?” Scully asks innocently. 

Clarice slowly unzips the dress. She bites her lip when she sees that Scully isn’t wearing a bra and when she notices that the scratch marks on her back are almost the same color as the dress. 

She gets a better look at the tattoo, but only has a few seconds until Scully gracefully steps out of the dress and leads Clarice to the edge of the bed. She pushes her back, straddling Clarice’s hips. 

“Kiss me.” It’s a statement, not a question, but Clarice happily obliges.

As much as she would be content to let Scully take the lead, and last night was certainly proof that can be a good idea, she feels the need to control Scully. Maybe it is because of the bondage talk earlier, or how good Scully looks in nothing but her underwear and heels. Whatever it is, she picks Scully up and kisses her roughly. 

Scully instinctively wraps her legs around Clarice. Her hands grab onto strong shoulders. She is so lost in the kiss that she doesn’t even notice she’s moving until she feels Clarice letting go of her, letting her fall. 

Clarice guides Scully backwards towards the pillows. Her lips make their way down, kissing Scully’s chin and neck. Clarice resists the urge to go any lower. At least for now. 

She quickly grabs Scully’s wrists and pins them above her head. Clarice takes off her borrowed scarf and knots one end around Scully’s wrists and one around the headboard. It may be a cheaper hotel than she is used to for these trysts, but at least it has something she can tie her lover down with. 

To say that Scully is surprised is an understatement. Her head is starting to clear from the wine, but her pulse rises and her eyes get slightly hazy. She licks her lips and looks up at Clarice with an arched brow. 

“Starling, I thought you said it would be worth my while if I didn’t touch you…”

“Oh I will make it worth your while, darlin’,” Clarice says with a wink. Instead of elaborating, she sucks and bites Scully’s collarbone. Scully’s body is a map that Clarice’s fingers and mouth want to study. 

She takes her time kissing down Scully’s chest until she reaches the bite mark she left last night. It is already a light purple color, but Clarice sucks on it until she hears Scully wince. She looks over to make sure she isn’t hurting Scully too much, and is met with eyes so dilated they appear to be black instead of pale blue. 

“Lower,” Scully breathes out, trying to maintain some semblance of control. 

“That’s not how this is going to work. I am going to take my time exploring...every...inch...of...you.” She punctuates each word with a kiss.

Clarice feels more comfortable, more in control. This is how she normally spends her affairs and she needs this tonight. 

She stands up and slowly unzips her dress. It has a side zipper, so she doesn’t need Scully’s help. She looks deep in Scully’s eyes as she strips. She unbuttons the halter strap that is around her neck.

“I bet you want to touch me,” Clarice asks as she steps out of the dress. The dress had a built-in bra, so Clarice stands in front of Scully in nothing other than a very strappy thong. 

Scully licks her lips and nods. She pulls against her restraints and feels the knots tighten. Clarice is obviously experienced in tying knots. 

“You already got your chance in the car, Dr. Scully. I think you need to wait now.” 

She smirks as she sees Scully’s frustration. She slides off her underwear and tosses them somewhere behind her. Scully wiggles her toes until her black heels fall to the floor. 

Clarice straddles her lover again, this time rubbing herself against Scully’s thigh. She shows Scully just how wet the evening’s events have left her. 

“Please” Scully says in a voice barely above a whisper. 

“Please what?” 

“Let me taste you.” 

Clarice is a bit surprised at the request. She thought for sure that Scully was going to beg Clarice to touch her. She makes her way towards the headboard and settles herself over Dana’s face. She is not giving in, but she is unable to stifle her desire any longer. 

Scully’s mouth is warm and soft and Clarice lets out a moan in spite of herself. She doesn’t want to give up control, so she slowly starts riding Dana’s tongue. 

She feels Scully struggling against the restraints and that alone almost makes Clarice come. She reaches down and rubs her clit, needing release after all of Scully’s teasing. It doesn’t take long, and she hears Dana making little noises, quieter than a moan but with the same intent. 

Clarice moves over and sits down on the bed next to Scully. She rests her head on the wall, enjoying the coolness. 

“You okay?” 

Clarice exhales, “Yes, I guess I underestimated you once again.”

Scully just laughs and licks her lips, enjoying the taste of Clarice. She looks up at the still-panting woman beside her and asks if she can be untied. 

“Oh no darlin’, we haven’t even gotten started.”

Suddenly Clarice is filled with a second wave of energy. She walks over to the small table and brings the chocolate lava cake. After feeling it is still warm, she smiles at Scully. Clarice takes a spoonful of the rich chocolate cake and offers it to Scully.

They share a chocolate-flavored kiss. It’s sweet and slow and is only interrupted when Scully feels warm liquid on her collarbone. It is the filling from the chocolate lava cake. 

Clarice drizzles the chocolate sauce around Scully’s already hard nipples, down her sternum. She hums slowly as she laps up the mixture of chocolate and something that is uniquely Scully. Her hot breath makes Scully laugh. 

God, Scully can’t remember the last time she laughed like this, completely uninhibited. 

Scully wants nothing more than to run her fingers through Clarice’s soft auburn hair. She strains against the scarf again, noticing the flush roll across Clarice’s face at her movements. 

And then Clarice kisses her way down to Scully’s nipples. There is a trail of fire left by Clarice’s warm mouth. She bites and kisses and sucks, taking her time. Somehow she instinctively knows Scully needs this. She needs to be tied up and teased. 

Scully quivers whenever Clarice’s tongue explores new regions of her pale freckled skin. Scully feels like a goddess being worshipped. She’s done this before, plenty of times, but tonight is the first night she feels she can really let her guard down. 

Clarice finishes lapping up the rest of the chocolate and makes her way back up to Scully’s lips. She tangles her fingers in the other woman’s hair, pulling gently at first. Then harder when she feels Scully moan against her mouth. 

Deft fingers make their way down Scully’s body until they reach their final goal. They circle Scully’s clit so lightly that it’s almost painful. If Clarice knows, she pretends not to notice. The sight of Dana squirming below her is just too erotic. 

“Please.”

There is that word again. Dana doesn’t know how many times she is going to beg tonight, all she knows is she wants Clarice inside her. 

Scully has never been a patient woman and Clarice conveniently left her legs untied. Scully hooks her leg around Clarice and pulls her closer. 

“Oh,” is the only thing that comes out of Scully’s mouth when she feels Clarice gently enter her with two fingers. They curl forward, deliciously pressing against her front walls. She moves maddeningly slow, putting just enough pressure to leave Scully panting. 

Clarice finds a good rhythm, her thumb circling Scully’s clit and fingers picking up their pace. She loves the way Scully clenches around her, taking her fingers in as deep as possible. She leans back, breaking their kiss.

“Dana, you’re so beautiful,” Clarice husks out. She doesn’t know if she should say it. It’s funny how she has no problem getting Dana off, but any sign of romantic affection makes her second-guess herself. _This is just sex_ , Clarice tries to remind herself. She loses her train of thought when she feels Scully’s hips lift off the bed. She’s so close. 

“Come for me, Dana.”

They are simple words, but they tip Scully over the edge. She comes, moaning out Clarice’s name. Clarice just holds her, slowing her fingers but not stopping, coaxing the last of Scully’s aftershocks. 

She leaves her fingers inside even when Scully’s breathing slows and her hips fall back on the bed. She has slowed their movements, but still gently strokes. Scully shifts a little bit, and Clarice finally removes her fingers slowly. 

She licks her fingers, moaning at the taste of Scully. She’s already addicted. 

“Untie me?” Scully breaks the silence. She’s exhausted from the long day and from her orgasm that she is pretty sure made her black out for a second. 

Clarice acquiesces, knowing Scully’s shoulders are probably starting to get sore. She unties the knots easily. After she is done, she kisses the insides of Scully’s slightly-red wrists, causing Scully to shiver. 

Her newly-freed hands immediately grasp Clarice, pulling her for a kiss. 

“I like the way I taste on you.”

Clarice deepens the kiss, wrapping her arms around Scully. She thought she did a good job of cleaning up the chocolate, so she is surprised when she feels stickiness against her chest. She laughs when she notices how messy they both are. 

Scully soon joins her, and the women lie back on the bed. 

“Wow, that was…unexpected,” Scully breathes out. 

“In a good way?”

“Yes, in a wonderfully good way.” Scully notices both of their bodies glimmering with a thin layer of sweat. She asks Clarice to join her in the shower. 

Scully rinses off her face and Clarice runs her fingers over Scully’s tattoo, her touch so gentle that it’s almost reverent. Scully feels Clarice staring and blushes. Maybe sometime she will tell Clarice about the tattoo, but not tonight. 

The women step out and dry off, glad that room service changed the sheets and towels sometime earlier today. Scully almost gasps when she sees Clarice finish drying off. The woman in front of her is so gorgeous and Scully has to stop herself from staring. 

Clarice lets Scully borrow a Quantico t-shirt and some leggings. For the most part the two women are the same size, but Scully’s breasts are much bigger. Clarice loves how tight the shirt is against Scully’s chest and licks her lips when she realizes she can see Scully’s hard nipples through the light grey shirt. 

“Do you want to come back to my apartment with me? I need to get a change of clothes, but I don’t want you to have to drive all the way back here by yourself,” Scully asks, posing the question logically, as if it would be the most efficient way to do it.

Clarice sees right through her, and slaps Scully on the ass as she walks by, “If you want me to spend the night with you, just ask me… Dr. Scully.” She winks at Dana, seeing her momentarily lose her train of thought.

“Clarice, spend the night with me. I am too tired to go another round right now, but I can promise you l will be a great big spoon,” Scully looks at Clarice with her wide eyes and in that moment, Clarice would do anything she asked. 

Gone is the pretense that this is not going to happen again. They both want this, whatever ‘this’ is, and they aren’t going to fight it.

Clarice quickly starts to put clothes into her duffel bag, not wanting to bring over her entire suitcase. However when Scully innocently asks her to bring the bodysuit, Clarice decides she should probably bring her entire suitcase. Just in case she needs anything else from that secret pocket.

Scully holds Clarice’s hand the whole drive back to her apartment. She is extremely tired, but wants contact with Clarice in any way she can. She gives Clarice some directions and they make it to Scully’s apartment about twenty minutes later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all of your continued support. :) I have the next few chapters planned out and am excited to share!


	12. Daylight

Clarice wakes first, stretching until she hears the satisfying pop of her shoulders. She sits up, confused about where she is for a moment. 

And then she sees Scully lying there beside her. Medium-length red hair falls over the pillow, a stark contrast from the light grey linen. She can’t help but smile as she slowly gets out of bed, trying not to wake Scully and avoiding the temptation to kiss the redhead’s forehead. 

She walks out of the bedroom and into the living room. She is again struck by how neat everything is, even more noticeable with the bright daylight streaming through the windows. There is a picture of what she can only assume is a young Dana with another redhead who has longer hair and more of a boho vibe. They are both smiling.

There is also a picture of an older man and woman posing for the camera, the man in a military uniform. Lastly, she sees a picture of Mulder wearing a ridiculous alien costume. Clarice smiles in spite of herself. 

Other than those three pictures, there aren’t too many personal effects. There are candles seemingly everywhere, but nothing else that makes the apartment feel lived in. 

Clarice wonders why Dana’s apartment is so bare. She noticed that Scully was neat and organized, but this is something else. Clarice wonders how many people get to see this part of her. They had both admitted that they don’t routinely date, but it’s hard to imagine that the woman who had completely fallen apart under her touch was the same woman who lived here. 

As she makes her way into the kitchen, she can’t help but feel like she is intruding. A home is so much different than a hotel, and Clarice feels like she is seeing a whole different side of Scully. 

She is relieved when she sees that Scully has a coffee maker. The aroma of coffee fills the air and Clarice takes a deep breath. She is unsure if she should crawl back into bed with Scully or just wait until she wakes up.

She decides on the latter and brings her suitcase into the living room, pulling out some casework. She bites the end of her pen as she studies the paperwork in front of her. With all of the new information they discovered yesterday, she wants time to look over her notes. 

After about thirty minutes, the words are swimming before her eyes. Clarice hasn’t found any new leads so far, nothing is sticking out to her in light of the recent findings. The coffee, however, has hit her system and she feels the need to move, do anything besides sitting. 

She looks through Scully’s fridge and is surprised to see empty shelves. The pantry is similarly bare. Everything else in the house is organized except for the side of Scully’s fridge. There are at least ten takeout menus attached by magnets. 

Clarice writes a quick note to let Scully know she will be back. She leaves her suitcase in the bedroom, but makes sure that everything else of hers is put away. Part of her wonders if Scully will even want her to come back and stay. She quickly dismisses that thought. Even though they have only known each other for a couple of days, she feels like Scully would directly tell her if she wanted space. Besides, they had agreed this would be casual so she has no reason to worry. 

\--------------

Clarice walks out of the boutique, two bags in tow. She made sure to buy a couple of turtlenecks and a few scarves. They were on sale, some Small Business Saturday promotion. She can’t remember the last time she went shopping for clothes. 

She looks down at her shoes. As much as she vowed she wouldn’t let Hannibal Lecter get to her, she never bought cheap shoes since that day. It had been years, and she still never skimped on her outfits besides her workout clothes. 

She lies to herself sometimes, but that encounter affected her in more ways than one. Most of the time she slept soundly through the night, but there were some nights that just seemed to play a loop of her time spent with Hannibal. He is the main one who haunts her, even though she has had many other cases since.

The cold air bites Clarice’s face, breaking her hyperfixation. She shivers, but she isn’t sure if it is because of the frigid air or her old, but still painful memories. 

Clarice makes her way back to the car, grateful for the heated seats. She checks her phone to see where the nearest grocery store is. She is starving and after their nocturnal activities, she assumes Scully will be as well.

She decides to stop by a small coffee shop instead. She is ready for her second cup of coffee and wants to pick up some bakery items. 

While waiting for her order, she feels someone tap on her shoulder. She immediately gets defensive and turns around with a glare. Her jaw almost drops when she sees Ardelia Mapp. 

It had been five years since they broke up and two years since they last spoke. Clarice had done everything she could to get Ardelia out of her mind. They broke it off when Ardelia confessed that she was in love with someone else, one of their mutual friends. She was trapped in a loveless marriage and Ardelia was trapped with Clarice. It hurt Clarice at the time, but in a way it freed her, made her more sexually and mentally liberated. 

She almost turns back around. She knows that she doesn’t owe Ardelia anything, but some part of her still cares. After all, they were best friends for years before they were lovers. 

“Ardelia,” she says, trying to remain as neutral as possible. 

“How are you, Starling? What are you doing here?” Ardelia’s voice is shaky, maybe even nervous. 

Clarice tells her that she is on a case. Her name is called out and she picks her two coffees and to go bag. Ardelia raises a brow at the two coffees. 

“Are you alone? Why are you working at 9am on a Saturday?”

Clarice asks her why she cares. Hurt flashes in Ardelia’s eyes and Clarice wants to take it back. She doesn’t know how to talk to Ardelia anymore. 

Once they were so close that they seemed like a true pair. When Ardelia breathed out, Clarice breathed in and that bond grew to be so strong. At the time, Clarice couldn’t think of anything more perfect. Since then, she had her eyes opened to the fact that Ardelia may have loved her, but she wasn’t “in love.” 

“I won’t stop you from leaving. You really don’t owe me any type of explanation. Here’s my new number, call me if you want.” Ardelia writes her phone number on a napkin. She simply writes “Delia” below the phone number.

And just like that, the woman she once thought she would spend her life with walked out the door, bells overhead ringing. The jarring sound reminds her about just how much it hurts to be in love. She hasn’t thought about calling Ardelia in a long time, but it’s strange to think that her number was changed anyway. Who knows what would have happened if Clarice had picked up the phone to call.

Without thinking twice, she throws the napkin away. She pictures Ardelia checking her phone all night, hoping against hope that Starling would text or call. But Clarice is ready to close that chapter of her life. 

There was once a time she would have kept the number. She would have gotten drunk and fidgeted with the napkin until she couldn’t handle the memories and the guilt of her body betraying her at the idea of tasting and touching Ardelia just one more time. 

On nights like that, the napkin would have fallen to her kitchen table and Clarice would have taken a taxi to the nearest bar. She would have gone home with a pretty woman, ignoring the tan line and the fact that the woman had probably recently taken off her wedding ring. Maybe it would have been out of spite or some fucked up sense karmic justice.

But not today. Clarice knows why even if she is not ready to fully accept the reason. 

\---------------------

Scully wakes up just as Clarice walks through the front door. She smells coffee and some sort of pastry. Her body instinctively forces her to get up and she realizes she is starving. Something sugary sounds like a great idea.

Somehow last night she ended up in nothing but her boyshorts. Clarice’s t-shirt lies on the floor next to her. Dana throws on a tank top and grabs her robe before leaving the bedroom. 

“Hey you,” Scully says and kisses Clarice’s lips. Last night was raw and emotional on more than one level, and she feels oddly shy and exposed. She wraps her robe just a little tighter.

Clarice doesn’t know what to say. She had spent two nights completely naked and intertwined with Scully, but this weekend morning feels very intimate. She isn’t sure if she is still unsettled by Ardelia’s appearance or not. 

She didn’t have any romantic or even friendly feelings for Ardelia anymore, but Ardelia was a grim reminder of why Clarice tries so hard not to get fully attached to any of her lovers.

Scully gratefully takes the coffee and the women sit cross-legged on the couch, knees touching as they face each other. As predicted, Dana was starving.

“I think you’re addicted.” 

Scully looks over and raises an eyebrow. 

“Okay let me specify, I think you are addicted to coffee. You already look like you feel ten times better and you have barely finished your first cup.”

Scully laughs. “Fuck, you found out my secret. Now I have to kiss you or kill you. That is how that phrase goes, right?”

Clarice makes the decision for her, leaning across the couch and capturing her lips. At some point, Scully ends up sitting on her lap. Scully’s lips are unbelievably soft and Clarice could spend hours just making out. 

It is easy for Scully to lose herself to Clarice. Warm lips and strong fingers are a form of communication that Scully has become proficient in. She doesn’t have to think twice. When they are kissing, she doesn’t have to worry about the future or where this might go. All she has to worry about is the woman below her. 

After a couple of minutes, Scully’s foot somehow hits the table and the vibrations knock over her coffee cup. As she bends over the table to clean up, her robe comes undone. 

Clarice comes over instantly, wrapping her arms around Scully from behind and sliding her hands softly over the newly exposed skin. She is almost reverent with her fingers. It was just a small thing, but for some reason Scully finds herself tearing up. 

She can’t remember the last time she did something domestic like this with another partner. Maybe it was with Jack Willis. They dated for over a year but never even discussed moving in with each other. He was the last person she truly fell in love with.

She always spent the night at his place when she was in town, but that was less and less frequent when Scully joined the X Files. She was heartbroken when he abruptly ended their relationship, but they had a good time. 

But this, this is beyond casually just hooking up. Scully knows it, even though it feels like she is crossing a line. She is not sure if it is her own line or Clarice’s. 

Part of her wants Clarice to keep touching her, but she turns around and does the only thing she can think of to drown out the discomfort she feels. 

She pushes Clarice back on the couch and roughly spreads her legs. Scully is on her knees in seconds and immediately pulls Clarice’s pants off. Her fingers and tongue have Clarice on the edge very quickly. 

Scully could tease Clarice, but she doesn’t because this is just as much for her as it is for Clarice. 

Clarice’s orgasm is intense and she quivers when Scully keeps going, curling her fingers perfectly. Her second orgasm was surprisingly just as strong. 

Scully’s hand doesn’t stop, roughly burying three fingers. Clarice, still coming down from her second wave, is still overly sensitive. She asks Scully to stop, and the redhead, while reluctant, stops right away. 

Scully looks up, making eye contact for the first time since she got down on her knees. She licks her fingers with a moan and then heads to the master bathroom to wash her hands and face. Her reflection in the mirror is flushed. 

She is still turned on, but only in the mood to give, not receive. She has already accepted that she was falling for Clarice. _Who wouldn’t? _Scully is attracted to Clarice’s body and the way she can use it, but Clarice is brilliant and is very in tune with the world around her.__

____

____

Clarice tries to stand up, but her legs don’t want to cooperate. She wants to return the favor, but Scully still hasn’t come out of the bathroom. 

\---------

As if she read Clarice’s mind, Scully walks out of the bedroom, fully dressed. She is wearing jeans that hug her curves and a black turtleneck. 

“Dana, you look great, don’t get me wrong. But you’re just going to have to take those off…”

Scully winks, but the expression on her face is unreadable. She clears her throat and asks Clarice if she has any plans for the weekend, very obviously changing the subject.

Clarice admits that she didn’t really make plans for anything but going running or reviewing the case. The two women decide to watch Netflix and then figure out plans from there.


	13. Unexpected

Scully and Clarice watch Thelma and Louise. They had both seen the movie several times before, so she doesn’t bother waking Clarise when she dozes off and rests her head on the redhead’s shoulder. By the time the final scene is playing, Clarice has shifted in her sleep so her head is in Scully’s lap. 

Dana has a sudden urge to touch Clarice’s soft auburn hair. Clarice appears to be sleeping deeply and Scully gives in to her desire, running her fingers through Clarice's hair gently. 

She feels happy and anxious at the same time. She has had friends with benefits before, though one night stands were more her speed. But she finds herself picturing what it would be like to exclusively date Starling. 

\-------------------

Clarice wonders if Scully knows she is awake, but she decides to keep her eyes closed and stay in Scully’s warm embrace for just a little longer. She almost sighs when she feels deft fingers massaging her scalp. 

She takes a peek after a couple of minutes, but Scully is just looking in the distance, her eyes kind of unfocused. She is just sitting there, stroking Clarice’s hair, but she looks peaceful. It is a stark contrast from her earlier frenzied actions. 

The spell is broken when Scully’s phone rings. She tries to get up without waking Clarice, but it is impossible. Clarice sits up but is not fully awake yet. Scully heads into the bedroom to take the call. 

“Scully,” she answers. _Fuck,_ she thinks. This is the last thing that she expected.

“What, just your last name? You saw my name on caller ID,” Mulder pretends to be hurt even though she rarely uses her first name anyway. 

“Mulder, unless I am mistaken, it is Saturday afternoon. Please tell me this call is not work related. I need a day off.”

He chuckles a bit at that. “Have you seen Clarice? She isn’t answering her phone and I don’t see her car at the hotel. I was trying to see if she wanted to go out, but now I am concerned.”

Scully pales. She doesn’t want to admit why Clarice wasn’t at the hotel, but she knows Mulder will be genuinely concerned. She checks her watch and realizes it is already three in the afternoon. Perfectly acceptable for Clarice to be here. 

“Um, yeah. She’s here, she stopped by my place a little while ago.” Scully hopes he won’t question further than that. 

“Perfect, I was going to see if you ladies wanted some delicious takeout Chinese food. Saves me a trip. See you in half an hour Scully.” Mulder hangs up the phone before giving Scully a chance to say no. 

Clarice picks up a bit of the conversation but tries not to eavesdrop. When Scully comes out, the look on her face is confusing. Clarice asks her what is wrong. 

“Nothing is wrong, per se. But Mulder is on his way here now. He is bringing Chinese food” Scully starts. “And no, I didn’t invite him or have a chance to decline.” 

“Why is that a bad thing? We are both starving.” 

Clarice realizes that Scully is concerned about Mulder finding out they are together. She doesn’t press for an answer, she just tells Scully she wants Sweet and Sour chicken. Scully texts Mulder with their orders.

After a couple of minutes, Scully reaches out, “You’re right, it isn’t a bad thing. I don’t want to tell him about us yet. Is that okay?” 

“Yeah, of course. What does ‘us’ mean? Are you saying that you don’t want to tell him that I slept here last night or that we are _sleeping together_?” Clarice asks the question that they have both been wondering about.

Scully sighs and doesn’t know how to respond. Of course she didn’t want Mulder to know they were having sex. She didn’t really talk to him about that sort of thing usually unless they were drunk. But she doesn’t want to have to sneak around all of the time. If Starling is going to be here for a while, maybe a month, she doesn’t want to have to keep making excuses. 

Clarice shares Scully’s concern, but realizes she doesn’t even know how to define what’s going on between them, much less know which parts to censor. She tells Scully this and they talk for a while. 

“I don’t want to lie to him. He doesn’t normally creep up and follow people by the way, I think he genuinely likes you. He hangs out with me a couple nights a month. But he has a bad habit of calling without texting first or knocking on your door without notice.” 

Scully laughs and tells Clarice about some of the other times Mulder showed up unannounced. She tells her that she gave him a spare emergency key some time ago, but he is not allowed to use it without knocking _and_ calling first. Thankfully that has spared quite a few awkward moments.

The women decide that the best ‘label’ for them right now is friends with benefits. It wouldn’t be a lie to tell Mulder they are becoming good friends. They just don’t need to mention the ‘benefits part.’ Scully flirts with the idea of this still being something more, but it feels good to at least admit their sexual relationship is a part of their friendship, not just one or the other. 

Clarice changes her clothes and the two women lay on the couch waiting for Mulder. Scully is fidgeting with the sleeve of her shirt and Clarice looks over, wondering what is wrong. She sees red circles around Dana’s wrists from the night before. 

Clarice places a gentle kiss inside of each wrist. The circles are much darker than they were last night. “Is it bad that I am kind of turned on by these marks? I just keep envisioning you tied up for me.”

Before she can change her mind or second guess herself, Scully whispers in Clarice’s ear, “I feel the same way about the marks on your neck. Every time I see them, they remind me that you’re mine.” With that, she gently bites Clarice’s earlobe.

Clarice shudders at the contact and at the implication behind Scully’s admission. Before she can reflect any further, they hear knocking at the door. Both women groan. Scully presses one more kiss on Clarice’s neck and goes to get the door. She is quite hungry to be honest. 

“Dana! Clarice! Ready for food?” 

Mulder laughs because he knows Scully is always ready for food. He has no idea how she manages to stay so thin when she eats almost more than he does. 

The trio are mostly silent as they eat. That doesn’t last too long though, and soon they are sharing stories and laughing. 

They head over to the couch and Clarice blushes when she remembers Scully on her knees in front of the couch just hours before. 

Mulder apologizes for just stopping by practically unannounced, but he felt like he had been ignoring Scully lately and didn’t want to make Clarice hang out alone. After a few minutes, it is very clear that Clarice doesn’t feel alone. She seems relaxed and comfortable. She shares some of the more lighthearted stories about her cases, although they are not nearly as humorous as the X Files. 

Mulder launches into a discussion about Jose Chung’s From Outer Space book as Scully just rolls her eyes. He makes sure to go into lots of detail about Sheriff Hartwell. Scully glares at him, wanting him to stop. 

Scully leaves briefly and Mulder asks Clarice for a pencil. He scribbles some notes down and puts it in his pocket for later. Clarice raises her eyebrow. “What’s that?”

Mulder said he just wants to keep track of how many times Dana rolls her eyes tonight. They both burst into laughter. He plays with the pencil for a little while, moving it back and forth in his hands. Clarice bites back a smile as she asks him if he is thinking about throwing the pencil at the ceiling. 

“No, Dana would kill me. More importantly, I don’t think it will stick like it does in the office.”

Scully walks in right then. Both Mulder and Clarice have sly looks on their faces.

“Why am I going to kill you and when can I start?” Scully gives Mulder one of her scolding stares, but she really isn’t that mad. Clarice’s heart races when she sees the assertiveness in Scully’s eyes. 

“Clarice and I are just talking behind your back. Right Clarice?” Mulder tries to throw her under the bus too, but Clarice just blushes and lets out a small smile. 

“No, why would I do that? I have to keep Scully in my good graces.” She winks at Scully, not caring that Mulder is watching. 

“Ah, so she has gotten to you too. Once you become her friend, you can’t say no to her. It’s a proven fact.”

With that, Clarice almost spits out her drink. Mulder continues with his “Scully Conspiracy” for the next fifteen minutes. While he is talking, Scully scoots closer to Clarice. She is in the middle of them on the couch, and pretends it is just so she can see Mulder better. 

After fifteen minutes, Scully rolls her eyes and cuts him off. “Mulder, knock it off. You’re giving away my secrets and Clarice just started to like me. It’s your fault if her opinion of me is influenced.” 

Scully knows Mulder was teasing, but it feels nice to admit out loud that Clarice likes her. 

Mulder briefly leaves to get some beer. Before opening the door, he turns back and holds four fingers up at Clarice, indicating the number of times Scully has rolled her eyes in the past twenty minutes. All things considered, the women are actually enjoying his company. 

The second Mulder closes the door, the women start kissing roughly. Scully protests when Clarice pulls back, but gasps when she feels Clarice lightly sucking on her inner wrist. She is making the marks darker which is slightly uncomfortable, but she quickly soothes the skin with her tongue. 

Clarice places her thigh between Scully’s legs and almost moans when she feels Dana pressing back. 

“Dana, is there something you want to tell me?” Clarice pretends to be oblivious to Scully’s desire. 

Scully doesn’t respond at first, just rocks her hips and grinds against Clarice’s thigh. She is frustrated when Clarice doesn’t move. 

“Touch me,” she commands with a stern look in her eye. 

Clarice tweaks one of Scully’s nipples. She knows it isn’t where Scully wants to be touched right now, but she is enjoying their little game. She tells Scully that Mulder was right, it is hard to say ‘no’ to her. 

Scully is frustrated and grabs Clarice’s hand, pushing it down the waistband of her jeans. When she feels how wet Scully is, Clarice decides that the risk of getting carpal tunnel would be worth it. 

Just as her fingers circle Scully’s clit, they hear a light knock telling them Mulder is back. Scully groans and presses her legs together to try to stop the ache she feels when Clarice withdraws her hand. It only gets worse when Clarice licks her fingers clean while maintaining eye contact. 

Mulder doesn’t notice the tension in the room, but he does notice the look in Scully’s eye. He doesn’t realize the cause, but he knows she looks like that when she doesn’t get her way.   
“Did you guys get in an argument when I was gone?” He raises a brow at the ladies. 

“We had a … disagreement.” Scully looks at the floor when saying this. _Yep_ , Mulder thinks, _whatever it was about Scully definitely did not get her way_. 

He drops the subject when Starling asks him for a beer. He holds out the bottle and asks Scully where her bottle opener is, not finding it in the usual drawer. 

“It’s alright,” Clarice says as she opens the bottle with her teeth. The beer foams slightly and Clarice licks the side so none spills out. 

Both Mulder and Scully stand there, their jaws dropped. They look at each other and back at Clarice. 

Mulder is able to speak first. “Where the hell did you learn that and can you teach me?” 

Clarice laughs, suddenly shy. She likes to show off her party trick, but was not expecting this strong of a reaction. Especially not from both of them.

Scully has to force her mouth to close, shocked by Clarice’s talent. She knew that Clarice was very talented with her mouth but still…

“I can’t share all of my secrets, Mulder,” she laughs, blushing when she notices the redhead still staring at her. 

“Well, um, Mulder I would love a beer. The opener is in the left drawer. But I guess we don’t really need it, do we Clarice?” Scully winks. 

A couple hours later, Mulder says his goodbyes. He hugs Clarice and simply says the word “Nine.” He leaves after that, laughing as he makes his way to his car. 

Scully asks Clarice what that meant, but Clarice is laughing too hard to explain. She says it’s just Mulder being dumb. Scully rolls her eyes and Clarice has to sit down because she is laughing so hard as she texts Mulder “10”.


	14. Sunday

Last night the two women fell in bed almost immediately after Mulder left. Clarice made quick work taking off Scully’s jeans and giving her the release she had needed all day. Scully screamed out Clarice’s name louder than she normally would, but she was a little drunk and the woman inside her was all she could focus on. 

She made her way to get some water. By the time Clarice returned from the kitchen, Scully was already asleep. Clarice’s heart skipped a beat as she slid under the covers. They were both completely naked, and the skin to skin contact made the cold air more comfortable. 

It dawned on her that there wasn’t even a question of her spending the night again. They both felt comfortable and wanted the company. _She_ felt comfortable and was a little surprised by this fact. 

Scully, half asleep, reached over and grabbed Clarice’s arm. She wrapped it around her, encouraging Clarice to spoon her. It felt like a breath of fresh air to the younger woman. 

\-------------

Scully wakes up and her head is pounding. This time it’s not from the sound of construction being done next door. 

_Fuck._ She sometimes forgets that she’s 33 and hangovers are much worse than they were in her twenties. 

She wonders why she didn’t drink water before bed last night and memories of Clarice flood her mind. Clarice was so skilled with her fingers, so perceptive, almost as if they had been with each other for a long time. She already knew the spots that made Scully’s hips buck and forced her to cry out. 

Scully was already dehydrated after the orgasm and the cheap beer in her system made it worse.

Scully reaches into her nightstand to take some Tylenol. She notices a glass of water next to the pill bottle and is extremely grateful. 

The second thing she notices is that Clarice is completely naked and lying on her back. _I should thank her for her thoughtfulness._ She settles herself between Clarice’s legs, slowly spreading her thighs so she doesn’t wake Clarice up. Yet. 

She’s successful in her mission. Clarice only wakes after Scully’s first long lick to her outer lips. Then Scully’s tongue is everywhere and Clarice feels electrified. She is still barely awake and all she can think about is Dana. She grasps the back of her hair, pulling Scully closer. 

Her moans are quiet, almost whimpering at the sensation as she rests her legs over Dana’s shoulders. She wishes she could wake up to this every morning. 

Clarice quivers as Scully enters her with one finger and then two shortly afterwards. Now that Clarice is more awake, she picks up her pace, timing her fingers and tongue perfectly. 

Clarice’s grips Scully’s hair tighter, needing something to hold onto and keep her grounded. She feels another rush of wetness and Scully moans. The vibrations cause Clarice’s hips to raise off the bed. 

Scully’s fingers plunge deeper and Clarice cries out. She doesn’t know how much longer she can last. 

“Dana, please let me come. I need you.” 

Scully just looks up at Clarice, not changing her speed at all. She teases Clarice’s clit, but still not giving her enough pressure to let go. Clarice is so close that she can barely keep her eyes open. 

If she is being honest, Scully could tease Clarice for hours. It gives her so much pleasure to drive her lovers wild, keeping them right on the edge until they beg or convince Scully to give her release. But teasing other lovers never felt anywhere as satisfying as it does with Clarice. 

“I want to come in your mouth,” Clarice begs. She will say anything at this point to convince Dana, and apparently those are the magic words. 

Scully’s tongue lashes out against Clarice’s sensitive bud. When she sucks on Clarice’s protruding clit and curls her fingers, she feels her clench tightly. 

All Clarice can do is cry out Scully’s name. She comes hard and feels Scully licking every drop. Her tongue swirls around Clarice’s opening as she withdraws her fingers. With her clean hand, she guides Clarice’s hand back to her head. 

Clarice immediately pulls Dana closer, riding her tongue. Her second orgasm comes quickly and leaves her whole body shaking. She pulls Dana up, guiding until they are face to face. 

Her head feels hazy and she can’t think of any words to say. Even a week ago she didn’t think she could come multiple times in a row like that, but she certainly isn’t complaining. She just pulls Scully toward her, their lips crashing. 

Somehow Clarice manages to clear her head just enough to get her hand between Scully’s thighs and she is shocked. Scully is so wet she is dripping. 

Clarice plunges two fingers into Dana’s warm opening and feels Scully’s breath hitch. Scully comes in less than three minutes, crying out. 

“Fuck, baby that feels so good,” Scully manages to say when Clarice doesn’t slow her fingers. In fact, she speeds up her ministrations when she hears Scully call her ‘baby.’ 

Starling coaxes out one more orgasm before Scully falls limp, laying on her back and facing the ceiling. She needs a few minutes to catch her breath. 

Clarice is tempted to make her way down between Dana’s legs, but when she removes her fingers, Scully gets more sensitive and whimpers during her aftershocks.

They lay there for a while, trying to calm their breathing. 

“Wow. Um, good morning,” Clarice says with a laugh. “I would be a morning person if I woke up to that more often. 

Clarice leaves after having a cup of coffee and heads back to her hotel to go on a run. Scully points out that she could easily run near her apartment, but Clarice really enjoyed the trails by the hotel. She leaves with her duffle bag and Scully’s spare key.

Scully spends most of the afternoon going grocery shopping. She makes sure to stock up on wine. She turns down the aisle and laughs as she picks up chocolate syrup. 

By the time she makes it home, she’s tired. There is a reason her pantry and refrigerator were empty--she hates going shopping. She takes a shower and notices how many bruises and scratch marks she has. Memories of exactly how she got those markings flash through her mind as she washes her hair.

Spending most of the day apart seems to be good for both women. Scully has some time to run errands and relax. It is easier for her to self reflect when she is alone. 

She is enjoying their time together. _Really_ enjoying it. But at the same time, she’s used to her independence and it’s new for her to have overnight guests. She really likes waking up with Clarice in her bed but she’s grateful to have some alone time this afternoon. 

\----

While Clarice is on her run, she tunes out almost everything but the music and the rhythm of her feet hitting the ground. She runs harder than she has in quite a while, pushing past the tiredness she feels. The air is frigid, but Starling works up a sweat within ten minutes.

She heads back to her hotel room and takes a shower. She feels almost giddy when she remembers how good it felt when Dana called her ‘baby,’ _Why am I not more scared?_ Clarice thinks as she is washing her hair. 

Clarice breathes deeply as she lies back on the hotel bed. Between Scully’s relentless fingers and mouth and the run she went on earlier today, Clarice is exhausted. She doesn’t mean to fall asleep, but suddenly she wakes up to the sound of her phone ringing beside her. 

She misses the call, but reluctantly opens her eyes to check her phone. She is surprised when she realizes it is already 4pm and she had been asleep for three hours. She just missed a call from Scully and sees a couple of texts from her. All Scully knew is that Clarice wanted to go on a run, so she was concerned that Clarice hadn’t messaged back. 

Clarice dials Scully’s number. 

“Hi Dana,” Clarice says when Scully picks up. 

“Are you okay? What is going on?” 

“I am fine, I just took a shower and accidentally fell asleep. I didn’t realize how tired I was from your… wake up call… earlier and the run just wiped me out.” 

“You don’t need to explain yourself to me, it’s okay. I just wanted to make sure you weren’t frozen outside somewhere.” Scully laughs, trying to be casual. 

In reality, she was concerned for Clarice’s safety. There were any amount of things that could go wrong when running alone in the snowy trails. That is why Scully only runs in the city on sidewalks. 

“Are you still up for going to the lights festival tonight? I can come pick you up.” 

Clarice quickly accepts. She realizes that most of her clothes are still at Scully’s apartment, so she asks if Dana can pick her up soon. Scully heads over right away.

\-------------------------

Scully had just finished getting dressed for the evening when Clarice finally called her back. She is wrapped in layers of soft fabric to keep her warm. Her makeup is dark and a sharp contrast from her eyes. If someone were to look at the two women, they would assume they had the same color of blue eyes. 

Clarice’s eyes are a darker shade of blue. The color reminds Scully of a storm. She knows that Clarice has a complicated past and her resilience is reflected in her eyes. _Eyes that I can get lost in._

It started snowing just before Scully made it to the hotel, just a light dusting that was barely enough to stick on the ground. It did, however, stick to Scully’s eyelashes. Clarice noticed it right away and commented on how cute it was. 

Clarice had already done her hair and makeup while she was waiting, so she only took a few minutes to change. She wore her new crimson turtleneck and a pair of black skinny jeans. 

Dana gasps as Clarice walks by. Red is such a flattering color on Clarice. She feels Scully staring and she blushes slightly. There is a hunger and intensity in Scully’s gaze that goes straight to Clarice’s core. 

Clarice wonders how Scully keeps affecting her like this. They only spent most of one day apart, but the sexual tension between them feels like their second day together again. Their desire is almost palpable. 

She probably would have suggested spending the night in if Scully hadn’t gotten all dressed up and wasn’t this excited about the light festival. 

They both know that Monday is getting nearer and nearer and are a little nervous. This weekend the women were in their own self-contained bubble where they were able to spend all their time together. Except for Mulder’s impromptu visit, they had no responsibilities and no work to come in between them. And most importantly, no need to hide or make excuses. 

\----------------------

The festival was better than Scully or Clarice could have expected. There were so many lights and they were both impressed at how intricate the whole display was. Scully had gone once before on a date. It was with a man who was extremely great in bed. Probably the most talented she had been with except for Clarice. 

The only problem was that sex was _all_ that interested him. It wouldn’t have been an issue if they had agreed to just hook up, but Austin always tried to go on dates with her first. He insisted it was the gentlemanly thing to do. Scully told him many times that she wasn’t looking for a gentleman or a boyfriend, but he insisted. 

Even though it was his idea, he would be distracted all throughout the date and acted impatient. The second they walked through the door, their clothes were shed and Austin would make her forget all about the lackluster date. The cycle kept happening until Scully finally called it off.

Needless to say this date is much, much better. She sees the lights reflected in Clarice’s eyes and loves her excitement. It is snowing again, so they buy some mulled wine to warm them up.

Clarice’s hand grips Scully’s, searching for heat after they finish their hot beverage. They spend almost an hour walking around, and only stop when the cold finally gets to them and Clarice’s tiredness returns. 

This is so much different from their first date, but in the best possible way. It’s intimate, which is something the women are beginning to feel a little more comfortable with.

Scully drops Clarice back off at her hotel. They decide to arrive at work separately, mostly so they don’t have to worry about sharing a car if Scully needs to leave again. 

Scully kisses Clarice softly and deeply outside of her hotel room door but doesn’t go inside. She knows that they are both exhausted but something about the hotel is like an aphrodisiac. They both have a long day ahead of them tomorrow.


	15. Bitten

“Please tell me you brought pastries or some type of food.”

“Of course I did,” Mulder laughs. He texted Scully earlier to let her know he was stopping by Starbucks on his way in. 

Starling makes it in fifteen minutes late. There was a crash that had traffic at a standstill. She was hoping to arrive early to talk to Scully for a bit and she tries not to be disappointed. Clarice gratefully accepts the coffee and sits on the edge of Scully’s desk. 

Mulder pours through his files, looking for any other cases remotely related to vampires or strange tattoos. Dust fills the air and Mulder keeps sneezing. As expected, there are a lot of vampire-related folders. 

Scully preps the questions that she wants to discuss with Jane. They have only met a couple times in passing, but she seems to make Mulder really happy. Scully is glad to see Mulder in a relationship. She knows that it hasn’t been easy for him lately. 

The image of Clarice leaning against her desk is unwittingly attractive and makes her blush. _Get yourself together._ She quickly says her goodbyes as she heads out to meet with Jane. Clarice takes over the desk and she and Mulder go back to their silent studying. 

\----

“Dr. Scully?” Jane is unsure how to address her boyfriend’s partner. She doesn’t know too much beyond what Mulder has shared. She read a couple of Dr. Scully’s articles in passing and was impressed. 

“Please, call me Dana.” Scully is impressed with how Jane carries herself. Scully knows how hard it is to be a woman in academia and Jane clearly is used to needing to assert herself. 

Jane is more than happy to discuss her leads in the case. “The positioning of the bodies is important. I don’t think there is a link between that area and folklore. I have been over it several times and the only thing that makes sense is that the location is probably very important to the killer.” 

She goes on to discuss the significance of how the bodies were placed. Jane’s eyes brighten while she talks. Her hands are very expressive and Scully can tell that Jane is passionate about her job. They are looking through the autopsy photos for what seems like the billionth time when Jane gasps.

Jane grabs some clear plastic sheets and traces out each woman's freckles. When she is done, she starts stacking them. After rearranging for a while, Jane is surprised that there is a distinct pattern.

“It is the beginning of the “Ankh” symbol. It means ‘life,’ but became associated with vampires and eternal life.” Jane explains a little bit more about the symbolism as Scully dictates. It is becoming clearer and clearer that they are dealing with a human who believes he is a vampire. The methodology signifies someone who is highly detail-oriented and who has become unhinged.

Scully’s notes are elaborate, key phrases underlined or circled. Later she will report back to Mulder and Clarice, but she’s glad to have some time to organize her notes first. 

Jane asks Scully if she’d like to go to lunch, and Scully accepts. She talks about her work with both research and teaching. Dana tells her about her role when she and Mulder first met and about some of her guest lectures at the university. 

They enjoy their lunch together. Jane tells Scully that she is happy they finally met. Mulder had been the one to originally seek out her help on another case and Scully was following other leads at the time. 

Scully has the impulse to ask her how it feels to be working with someone she is dating. She almost does until she realizes Jane might think she is talking about Mulder. Even if she didn't, Scully doesn’t want to have to explain to her about Clarice. 

\---------------

“You seriously think he’s a vampire? I thought we decided it was a human?” Clarice is confused by Mulder’s proclamations. They spent the last couple of hours linking different vampire or exsanguination cases, and Mulder just declared something about the killer being a vampire. 

“No, I mean that he _thinks_ he’s a vampire to the extent that there is no line between reality and fiction. He believes this so wholeheartedly that he will act out all of his desires. He has no reason to hold back if he believes he is truly a monster.”

Scully walks back in the room and the two agents look up, excited to see her. They compare notes. Both Clarice and Mulder are shocked about the symbolism behind all of the body locations. 

Clarice gives a profile. White male, 30-40 years old. Single, but not by choice. He is very meticulous and well read. She wouldn’t be surprised if he was highly intelligent and dedicated to research. She recommends calling local bookshops or occult stores. “In his mind, he is not doing anything wrong at all, just fulfilling his destiny. He has probably been bitten by someone in the past. This makes him even more dangerous. He might also take classes at the university or have access to their academic library.”

The profile doesn’t narrow the list of suspects down too much, but it does give them a good place to start. The other detectives and agents on this case had followed a bunch of leads, but they were more focused on the bodies themselves rather than entertaining the idea of a vampire or paranormal obsessions. 

They comb through the reports and interviews that have already been given. After nearly five months, there are quite a lot of people who have been working on the case. The three agents are able to link together some more of the interviews and information in the notes.

Mulder makes a game plan about their next steps. They make a list of the local shops in the area as well as the witnesses or family members that they want to re-interview. Mulder breaks the list down into three sections, equally dividing the work over the next day and a half. 

It has become very clear that there are so many layers involved in these crimes that must have taken months, if not years to plan. They let out a collective sigh of relief. While they have not made any specific progress in finding a suspect, they have a much better foundation on which to begin their search. 

Scully yawns and says she is going to head out early. She smiles at Mulder and Clarice and slowly makes her way to her car. She’s not sure why she is so tired. Scully is grateful that she spent the night at her own home last night, even if it was only so she could catch up on sleep. She can’t even imagine how tired she would have been if she had given in to her temptations last night. 

_Temptation._ The word is on Clarice’s mind after she sees Scully’s retreating form. She quickly tries to come up with an excuse so she can leave, but Mulder is almost done anyway. 

The next thirty minutes pass in silence. For a moment, she can relate to the thrill of being bitten. It never has anything to do with vampirism, but she loves the sensation, loves how the marks are still there the next day.

She clears her throat, trying to refocus her attention to the notes before her. Clarice is impressed by how neat Scully’s handwriting is and how easy it is to follow her notes. She brushes her fingers over the letters, a mix of cursive and some shorthand. _You’ve got it bad, Starling._

“Clarice? Are you heading out soon?” Mulder looks over, a concerned look on his face. He’s not quite sure what went on between Scully and Clarice over the weekend but he noticed the distressed look on her face once Scully left. In fact, he barely saw the two of them talk to each other today. 

Clarice nods. She’s tempted to call Scully on her way back to the hotel but she doesn’t want to seem needy. It’s starting to feel more like they are really just friends with benefits, a stark contrast from their intimacy this weekend. 

Across town in her apartment Scully is having similar thoughts. She pours herself a glass of whiskey and downs it in one drink. Scully pours herself another but sips it slowly. _Why am I feeling this way?_ She’s tired of being confused. 

Scully picks up the phone a couple times to call or text Clarice but isn’t sure what she would say. Words flow through her mind, anything from a simple ‘hello’ to an, albeit unlikely, confession of the deeper feelings she is having trouble stifling. _Fuck._

Suddenly an idea passes through her mind. She isn’t normally a fan of this type of exchange, but she is curious to see Clarice’s reaction. 

\--------

Clarice turns on the TV, trying to distract herself. She changed out her work clothes already with the intention to go on a run, but lost motivation before she could make it out the door. 

When her phone buzzes Clarice crosses her fingers that it’s from Scully. She fights the instinct to immediately check the screen and reply back. She doesn’t want to seem _too_ eager. 

After a couple of minutes, Clarice sees she has a photo message from Scully. She smiles, glad to hear from her. Clarice tried not to overthink about it when Dana left early from work without more than a brief smile. She’s surprised at how flustered Scully makes her. 

After unlocking her screen and opening Scully’s message, Clarice gasps and almost drops her phone. Never in her wildest dreams did she expect the racy picture and text from Dana. Scully is topless in the photo, her hand and forearm draped across her breasts, just barely covering her black bra. Scully’s face isn’t in the photo, but Clarice’s imagination is more than vivid enough. 

The photo is captioned: _Miss me yet?”_ Clarice feels herself get uncomfortably wet. She has never gotten turned on by sexting before, but she can’t deny the way Dana makes her feel. She tries to think of a reply, but gets another message from Scully. _I think it’s going to snow soon. You should come over here and keep me warm._

Scully sends the second message but she is already overheated enough. She sees the indicator that Clarice is typing and holds her breath. Scully is smart, she didn’t show her face in the pictures. 

_I thought you were tired._ There were so many things that Clarice could have responded with, but she was not going to make it that easy for Scully. There was not a doubt in her mind that she would be spending the night with Scully, but she didn’t want to give up that easily. 

While waiting for a response, Clarice decides to change. She puts on the bodysuit and a simple pair of jeans. She chooses to wear a button down shirt and Converse. 

_I want you. Now._ Scully really is still tired, but it would be more than worth it to see Clarice again tonight. 

Clarice makes it to Scully’s house in record time, just _barely_ driving over the speed limit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I couldn't find a better website, but this is the picture the ending is based on. I might have actually died if I received that text.... https://www.gilliananderson.ws/cgi-bin/gallery/index.cgi?album=/Magazines/For+Him+Magazine&mode=viewpicture&picture=96fhm3.jpg


	16. Dinner

Clarice walks into work at 8:03am. She really isn’t _that_ late, but she has always prided herself on her punctuality. Mulder barely even raises his eyes. She’s a little surprised that he is here already. 

“How was your evening?” Mulder normally wouldn’t be so chatty with consultants on the case, but he’s really enjoying hanging out with Starling. She responds, saying it was good, but not elaborating. 

In reality, it was incredible. She didn’t really know what to expect when she headed to Dana’s house, knowing that the redhead was tired. Apparently that was not enough to stop Scully from having mindblowing sex. 

Clarice started unbuttoning her shirt as they walked backwards towards the living room. As soon as Scully noticed Clarice was wearing the bodysuit, it was like a switch had been flipped. Scully locked her lips against Clarice’s neck as she pushed her against the wall. 

Scully had been aggressive, rough, and almost territorial. She had mentioned to Clarice this past weekend that she normally had one night stands, and Clarice couldn’t help but feel jealous then. Clarice now knew instinctively that this is how those nights progressed: Scully, taking complete control and her lover, more than willing to submit. 

It was so different from the sex over the weekend and it surprised Clarice. Not necessarily in a bad way. Just in a way that made her feel a little overwhelmed when she hastily left Scully’s apartment. She wasn’t expecting to spend the night, but she was planning on at least spending a little bit of time afterwards. 

It’s 8:15 am before Mulder starts to realize that Scully isn’t here. He tries not to be worried, but he knows she is rarely this late. He and Clarice make small talk about some horror B-movie that they both enjoy. 

By 8:20am, Mulder mentions Scully’s tardiness to Clarice, remarking on how this is now the second time in a row she’s been this late. As if summoned, Scully walks through the door. Her face is reddened by the sharp morning wind and her hair has tiny snowflakes still stuck to it. 

Mulder considers not mentioning her lateness but he is slightly concerned for his partner.   
“Scully, are you okay? I know you were tired last night and I was worried that you were getting sick.“ Mulder knows that his partner is stubborn and thinks that she doesn’t need to see a doctor since she is one herself. 

Scully gives a noncommittal nod and sits down at her desk. She can’t even really describe the thoughts that are running through her mind. She had so much fun this weekend with Clarice but it left her drained emotionally. When they were not working, it was easy to give Clarice her undivided attention. 

But this morning she wondered if she should slow down. She slept with Clarice last night just like any other one night stand. Scully always assumed that she had one-night stands so she didn’t have to worry about getting emotionally attached or hurt. She is starting to wonder if part of the allure of one night stands is diminishing the effects on her work. 

She started sleeping with Clarice on Thursday, and Friday it hadn’t been difficult to focus on work. But Scully didn’t accept the fact that she was falling for Starling then. They have a case to work on, and Scully doesn’t have time for distractions. It hurts her to think of Clarice as a ‘distraction,’ but it has been so long since she has been in a relationship. She reminds herself that they aren’t even technically in a relationship, although it does seem possible in the near future. 

Maybe it would be different if she wasn’t working with Clarice. They do work really well together, all three of them, but Scully finds herself thinking about Clarice when she should be focusing. Especially yesterday. 

There is a slight tension in the air as both agents are confused by Scully’s behavior. Mulder is concerned and Clarice is confused. Scully is barely meeting her eyes. Luckily, they decide to start re-interviewing witnesses. They all split up but make sure that they can keep in touch if needed and text each other which houses they are at. Criminals tend to insert themselves into the investigation, and it is better to be safe than sorry. 

After a couple of hours, Scully is almost done with her list. She has a few more possible witnesses or family members to interview, but so far she has learned only a little bit more than previously. She sees a call from Mulder and is immediately worried. He can be really stubborn to the point of putting himself in a dangerous situation. 

“Scully, it’s me,” he says as soon as she answers. He has been calling that way since they first started as partners, before caller ID. 

“Mulder, are you alright?”

“Yes, I’m okay. Can you meet me at a diner for lunch? I’ll text you the address.” Scully accepts and is soon sitting in a retro-style bar complete with waitresses in revealing outfits and greasy food. Mulder comments that he was trying to find something for both of their tastes and Scully punches him in the arm. 

It’s true that Mulder can be a good wingman and fortunately there’s never been any jealousy. 

“Okay spill. What’s going on? I know something happened since you’re never late.”

“Honestly, I left my apartment later than usual and hit traffic.” Scully is telling the truth although she doesn’t disclose the reason for her late departure. She doesn’t even have a specific answer for herself. She just sat on the edge of the bed, trying to sort her thoughts out about her feelings for Clarice. 

Did she want to take it to the next level? Last night it was easy to treat Clarice like a one-night stand even though it wasn’t fair. But she was buzzed and horny and she knew that Clarice would come over. It was as if her body forgot about what happened this weekend and just went on autopilot. 

“Dana, I know you. Are you sick? Did something happen this weekend with Starling? I enjoy working with all of us together but I could have her take over some of your interviews if you need some time off.” 

Scully tells him she doesn’t need that, she has no problem working with Starling. Mulder doesn’t seem convinced. He suddenly remembers seeing Clarice’s suitcase in Scully’s living room. He takes a deep breath and asks Scully if she’s attracted to Clarice. 

“I know it’s not really appropriate for me to ask, but you’re my partner and I hate seeing you get hurt.”

The flash in Scully’s eyes is enough of an answer. She considers not telling him, but he is her best friend and she could use his opinion. 

“I don’t know what happened, Mulder. It was supposed to be just a one-night thing, and then a casual thing. But I’m falling for her and…” 

She stops there, not sure how she wants to end the sentence.

“So, this weekend, huh? Was that the one-night thing?” Mulder regrets the question as soon as the words come out of his mouth. He quickly corrects himself. “Sorry, what I meant to ask is if you started falling for her this weekend and if you’re concerned about working together.”

Scully had glared at him after his first question, but her gaze softened at the second. Mulder had always been good at getting directly to the point in situations like this. 

“I don’t know. I’m scared about falling for her because it’s been so long since I have been in a real relationship. Plus we are all working together and I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable. I am honestly a little worried about being distracted at work, but I think so far I have just been distracted because of my own discomfort, not because of her in general.” Scully blurts out the things that have been on her mind. She’s slightly embarrassed, but she reassures Mulder she would never do anything to jeopardize the case.

“I mean it’s been working well for Jane and me so far. I think you can be professional at work without any issues. I’ve seen the way you two work together and I wondered if something was going on, but just because of how in sync you two were.”

Mulder is a little bit surprised at Scully’s news. He had caught Starling looking a couple of times, but who wouldn’t? Dana was stunning. He’s more worried about Scully getting hurt than he is about them being in a relationship. 

Scully was right. He doesn’t remember the last time she was in a relationship that lasted more than a few days. 

“I’m not going to feel uncomfortable. Are you two on the same page? Are you worried about getting hurt?” He is asking these questions as a friend, not just as a colleague. 

Scully says that she thinks they are, but they both haven’t dated in a while.

Mulder pays the bill and they finish working for the day. Mulder heads home, taking his case notes with him, but tells Scully to drop her’s by the office and continue working tomorrow. He texts Clarice the same thing. If there is one thing he knows for sure it’s that Scully is stubborn, especially when things make her uncomfortable or not entirely in her control. 

\--------------

Clarice walks into the office just as Scully is getting her coat to leave. There is an awkward silence, neither of them wanting to speak first. Their eyes meet and the tension is broken. 

They both start talking at the same time and give a nervous laugh. Scully makes the first move. She sets her coat down on her desk and walks over to Clarice. Clarice’s hair is windblown and her face is red. Scully places her hands on Clarice’s cheeks and gently kisses her. Her kisses are soft and warm against Clarice’s cold lips. 

“Clarice, I’m sorry about this morning. I didn’t mean to be so detached,” Scully punctuates her sentence with a kiss. 

“It’s okay. I didn’t mean to cross any boundaries with you. I guess I’m okay with just hooking up, we just need to be able to communicate about these things.” 

Starling looks down at the floor as she says that and Scully’s heart drops. 

“No, sweetie, that’s not what happened. I just got nervous, but you didn’t overstep anything. Can I take you to dinner tonight? I’m in the mood for someplace casual if that’s okay.” 

A smile appears across Starling’s face and she agrees quickly, not caring if she sounds desperate. They kiss one more time and head to their cars. They decide to meet at Scully’s apartment after Clarice gets a change of clothes. 

\-----------------------------------------

It starts to snow lightly about halfway into Clarice’s drive to Scully’s apartment. By the time she makes it there, the snow is falling harder and starting to stick to the ground. It feels like all she does after work is drive, but it is well worth it if it means seeing Scully more often. 

Clarice shivers in her coat. It keeps her upper body warm but does very little to keep her legs warm. She decided to wear a dark pair of jeans and another one of the sweaters she got over the weekend. This one has a deep V that she knows is going to distract Scully. 

Scully invites Clarice in and brushes some snow out of her hair. She immediately wraps her arms around Clarice, trying to warm her up. 

“Stop, I’m going to get you all wet. It will melt off anyway.” 

“I happen to like when you get me wet.” Scully winks and reaches over Clarice’s shoulder to grab her own coat and open the door. Clarice rolls her eyes, something she rarely does. 

The snow is starting to get heavy but they still have full visibility of the road. They decide to go to a small gastropub and pick a booth at the back of the restaurant. 

The food takes a while to cook, but Scully and Clarice don’t mind. They start to fill each other in on their day but quickly decide they aren’t going to talk about work. Clarice holds Scully’s hand over the table and she’s happy when Scully doesn’t pull away. 

So many things are running through Clarice’s mind. She feels like this past weekend was sweet and tender and now things aren’t. She wasn’t lying earlier when she said she was okay with a hook up, but she certainly wants more than that. She wants to be in a relationship and she wants to ask Scully soon. She’s tired of the back and forth. 

The food is more than worth the wait and Clarice has to consciously stop herself from moaning about how good it is. In fact, it’s so good that the two barely talk while they eat. 

Scully finishes first and lets out a sigh. She excuses herself and uses the restroom. Her reflection looks a bit tired, a bit sad. Mirror Scully tells Regular Scully to get over herself and just officially ask Clarice out. 

She is surprised when she doesn’t immediately reject the idea or feel uncomfortable. Talking to Mulder really helped her realize what she wanted in this partnership with Clarice. She thinks that Clarice wants this too, even based on the way she looks at her. 

A text from Mulder flashes on her phone. 

_Did you guys run into each other back at the office? ;)_

Scully rolls her eyes as she realizes that Mulder set them both up. She texts him back with a short ‘yes,’ deciding not to elaborate further until after she talks to Clarice. It kind of feels odd to realize that she’s in her thirties and is still getting nervous over asking Clarice to be her girlfriend. She splashes cold water on her face and heads back to the table, hoping she wasn’t gone for too long. 

She probably doesn’t even notice it, but Clarice’s face lights up when she sees Scully. Scully sits next to Clarice in the booth instead of across from her. She takes Clarice’s hand in hers, holding it softly. 

“I am sorry about last night, just kicking you out like that. I needed some time to think.” 

Clarice nods solemnly, not sure where this conversation is going. 

“I needed time to think because I’ve fallen for you. Hard. And I didn’t mean to, in fact I tried not to for my own selfish reasons. But I can’t--” 

She is interrupted by Clarice’s cell phone ringing. Scully briefly hopes that Clarice will   
ignore the call, but nods as she tells Clarice it’s okay to check. Clarice’s face falls as she sees her boss is calling her. It is from his work number, which means he must still be in the office even though it is nearly 8 pm. 

Clarice apologizes and kisses Scully. She makes her way to the front of the restaurant so she can hear over the loud music. It is the worst time possible for this to happen, but Clarice sees it is her boss on the line. It must be an emergency if Jack Crawford is calling her this late at night. 

“Hello Jack, this better be important,” Clarice is slightly annoyed, but she says this with a teasing tone. 

Jack is very serious when he replies. “Starling, I need you back here. The local PD called in another body. Remember the Freezer Cases?”

Earlier this year Clarice had been consulting on a case in which two frozen dead bodies turned up with signs of being held in a small freezer. Not enough victims to be classified as a serial killer, but she was almost certain that the killer would strike again. Both victims were single, estranged from their families, and were never reported missing. They both were ID’d by their fingerprints from prior convictions that were in the system. 

The case never officially got turned over to the FBI since everything happened in-state. Clarice wonders what she is being called for. Jack gets to the point quickly. 

“We have a suspect in custody. He moved out of state shortly before the bodies were found and none of the women’s friends remembered him. We caught him walking away from the newest body and he started to talk. For some reason he immediately shut down and then said he would only talk to you. I need you to get on the next flight back here. I’m sending a car and we’ll get you on a plane shortly.” 

Clarice is still trying to wrap her head around the situation. She knows she needs to go, but she can’t help thinking this is such bad timing. _Murder waits for no one._

She walks back to their booth and Scully takes one look at her face and knows that something has come up. Clarice gives her the quick details and pays for their dinner. 

Clarice begrudgingly takes Scully to her apartment. It’s not how she anticipated the night going at all. Scully barely said a word on the ride back, seemingly lost in her thoughts. Clarice can’t imagine what Scully is thinking of. She desperately wants to know what Dana was going to say. Part of her wishes she could go back in time and not answer the phone, but she has always been married to her job, especially when lives are on the line. 

“Dana,” she looks at Scully until she meets her eyes when she pulls into the apartment’s parking lot. “I want to continue the conversation as soon as I am back, okay?”

Scully kisses Clarice deeply and offers to give her a ride to the airport. Jack has already arranged for a car to pick her up from the hotel room so Clarice declines. 

“When you get back?” Scully sounds almost fragile as she asks. 

“Of course.” Clarice absolutely means it.


	17. Gone

Scully sits alone in her apartment and doesn’t even bother turning on the lights. She understands why Clarice had to leave and she would do the same thing if she were in that position. Normally, she wouldn’t spend this much time thinking about it though. 

Of course they would be interrupted right after Scully had started to confess her feelings. Scully knows that Clarice wants to continue the conversation but a part of her is worried that Clarice might have doubts about how well a relationship would work out. 

She has a deeper level of understanding since they are both agents, but it doesn’t make the loneliness go away. On nights like this Dana would normally have a few glasses of wine and go to bed, but she doesn’t feel like drinking. She texts Clarice another goodbye and asks her to text her when she lands. _I would do the same thing for any friend. She’ll know that._

She briefly considers texting Mulder but decides she will talk about it tomorrow. She makes herself a cup of chamomile tea and lays down on her bed. Scully falls asleep rather quickly, deciding that it’s more productive than staying up to worry. 

\-----------

_I landed a bit ago. I hope you’re getting some rest, you’ve been tired lately. I’ll be in touch as soon as I can._

Scully smiles at how thoughtful Clarice is. Truthfully, she has been rather tired lately. She makes it to the office fifteen minutes early, and starts to go over her notes as well as looking at Clarice’s notes. The handwriting is very neat. Although her notes aren’t nearly as organized as Scully’s, she’s able to follow them easily.

“Uh oh,” Mulder says when he comes in. Scully is back to showing up to work early and he hopes things went well last night. He asks her about it and she looks confused for a minute.

“They didn’t tell you? Clarice got called back last night for an interview with a suspect. Apparently he would only talk to her. And before you ask, yes, I did try to tell her how I feel and her fucking phone rang in the middle of my sentence.”

Mulder tries to bite back a laugh. _Of course_ something like that would happen. And _of course_ they wouldn’t have told him that his colleague would be missing for a while. 

“Are you okay?” He sobers up, concerned about his partner.

“Yes. She said she definitely wants to continue the conversation when she gets back.” Scully tells him how she was nervous last night that Clarice might change her mind but she then realized that they would have to deal with long distance anyway if they did have a relationship. 

Mulder is reassuring and tells her she’s probably feeling this nervous because it’s been so long since she's had more than a one or two night stand. He went through the same thing with Jane. 

They get back to work. They are pretty much done with the interviews but they have a bunch of records to go through. Yesterday Mulder talked to the owner of a local occult and supernatural bookstore who was very willing to help the agents out as long as he promised they would not notify the government of his inventory. They agreed without hesitation because that wasn’t what they were looking for anyway.

Unfortunately for them, the owner only used paper records since he was worried about the government tracking him to put him out of business. 

“He’s kind of right, you know. If he logs his books digitally there would be a record of the books and the authors. Some of these are self-published. It is easy to see how they wouldn’t want the government to know.”

Scully just rolls her eyes and continues shifting through the paperwork. The shop’s owner has terrible handwriting, but there are several entries that are obviously written by different people. 

Her phone rings and she realizes it’s already lunch time. Her face lights up when she sees the caller ID. Mulder must notice because he gives a little wave and walks out. 

“Scully.” 

“Hello Dr. Scully,” Clarice drawls out, her voice deepening. 

“How’s it going over there? Are you alright?” 

Clarice is excited to hear Scully’s voice. It’s been a long day and she barely got any sleep last night. She fills Scully in on the details. The suspect, Vincent, had apparently been obsessed with Clarice for some time. He believed that she was the only one who ought to be allowed to ‘catch’ him. 

Vincent verbally confessed within fifteen minutes and then agreed to write down his confession as well. He is just a kid really, having just turned twenty last month. Vincent threw a fit and had to be restrained when Clarice got up to leave. He was upset that she wouldn’t stay to talk to him, profile him. 

“I should be flying out tomorrow sometime. I’m flying commercial now since ‘the department doesn’t believe the use of the FBI’s private jet’ is warranted now. Do you mind picking me up? I already declined an escort back to the hotel but I can easily call an Uber.” 

Dana quickly agrees and asks Clarice to send her the flight info. She wishes that Clarice could come home tonight. She doesn’t realize she spoke out loud until Clarice agrees. 

Clarice says she has to go, and Scully says her goodbyes. Neither of them mention the conversation they are going to have tomorrow and it’s probably for the best. 

\------------------

Mulder comes back from lunch and lectures Scully about not leaving to get food. 

“Stalker,” Scully says, even though he’s correct. 

“It is simple, really. There are no tire tracks behind your car and the snow is not disturbed. I know for a fact you didn’t get delivery because I accidentally knocked over a box in the hallway and didn’t pick it up like the savage I am.” 

Scully arches an eyebrow. “How do you know for sure that I didn’t get delivery? They always bring the food to the front door of the building.”

“There is no way in hell you would have left the box sitting in the middle of the hallway,” Mulder laughs. Every part of Scully’s life is immaculate. Her apartment, clothes, and even her car. 

“If you must know, Clarice called. She’s coming back tomorrow.” Scully smiles as she says this, relieved that she can talk about this with Mulder at least. 

Scully pours through paper files until her eyes can’t focus anymore. Mulder had left a couple of hours ago, but she is surprised to see it is almost 7:30 pm. 

The snow is coming down hard, making it difficult to see the road. Luckily there isn’t much traffic. Scully makes it safely to her apartment and sinks to her couch. She sends Clarice a quick text to verify her flight info. Scully hangs up her coat and makes herself a quick dinner while she awaits a response. 

Clarice forwards the flight information and says she is heading to bed soon, too. She misses Scully more than she thought she would, especially now that she doesn’t have a case to work on. It ended up being worth her coming out since the killer confessed to three more crimes. 

She finishes up her load of laundry that she started earlier. It feels nice to sleep in her bed after the hotel mattress, but she can’t help but picture Dana next to her, in her apartment. No matter what, Clarice is going to confess her feelings to Scully tomorrow. 

\--------

The morning passes by quickly for all three agents. Skinner gives Mulder and Scully a new case. It’s more like an errand and definitely something that could have been done by another department. They don’t protest too much because they know Skinner is still on thin ice with the Deputy Director. 

By 3pm, Scully and Mulder both decide to call it a day. Clarice’s flight is due to arrive in an hour and they aren’t going to get any more work done tonight anyway. 

Mulder pulls Scully into an unexpected hug. He tells her that he really is happy for her. She smiles at him, surprised by his reaction. He chuckles and then pulls away.

“Alright, alright. Let’s leave before Skinner decides he needs us to run more errands.”


	18. Mine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for your comments, kudos, and patience as I continue this story. This chapter is 90% smut, I hope you enjoy!

Clarice looks around the terminal for Scully. She quickly spots fiery hair and makes her way over. Her heart beats faster the closer she gets to Scully. 

Clarice’s strong arms wrap around the redhead and she doesn’t want to let go . She inhales and Scully’s light perfume surrounds her and relaxes her immediately. Clarice asks if they can just head back to Scully’s apartment. In this moment she’d agree to anything as long as it involved Dana. Technically her office is still paying for the hotel but the idea of going back to the hotel alone tonight after sitting on the plane makes her heart pang with loneliness. 

Scully is thrilled that Clarice wants to spend the night, thrilled that she’s back. They don’t talk much but Clarice reaches out to take Scully’s hand during the drive. 

They barely make it through the door before Scully’s lips are on Clarice’s, her teeth teasing the younger agent’s still-cold lips. She laughs a little when Clarice pulls back to put down her suitcase and take off her coat. 

“I would say sorry but I couldn’t wait,” Scully blushes, both of them knowing very well that she’s not sorry. 

Fire. That is how Clarice feels when she looks at Scully. She wants to be consumed by her, surrounded by her arms and lips and hands. The hunger in her eyes must be visible because all of a sudden she’s back up against the wall and Scully captures her lips. They barely pull away from each other, just long enough to breathe. 

“I missed you. I need you,” Clarice says between kisses. 

The kisses become faster as Scully’s warm hands sneak under Clarice’s shirt. Clarice gasps when she feels chilled fingers making their way up until they are cupping her breasts. Sculy must notice the fire she started because then she removes her hands and leads both of them towards the couch. Clarice winces a little bit as she sits down and Scully is concerned. 

She quickly reassures her that she is okay and says she’s just sore from sitting on the plane. It was a short flight, but Clarice was stuck in a middle economy seat that made her feel claustrophobic and tense the whole time. 

Scully offers a massage and Clarice accepts. She feels a rush of wetness at the memories of the other things that those very same hands have done to her. She wants to keep going but all she’s eaten today was a granola bar and some coffee from the airport. That was hours ago. 

“After we eat dinner though. I’m starving!” 

They order takeout and Scully leaves to pick it up. She tells Clarice to relax and lay down while she’s gone. Clarice wants to argue and say she’s feeling fine, but it really does sound like a good idea. Scully is only gone for fifteen minutes but Clarice still falls into a light slumber. 

She wakes up when Scully comes through the front door and she grabs one of the takeout bags. They settle in together on the couch and decide to watch TV. It feels so natural for them to be sitting there, legs and shoulders occasionally touching. Scully finds her courage after the episode ends. She’s ready to continue their interrupted conversation from the other night. 

“Clarice, I’ve fallen for you. That wasn’t a part of the plan, but I don’t want to feel guilty for the way I feel anymore. I want to be with you, officially. Will you be my girlfriend?” Scully lets out a deep breath, hoping to stifle her last-minute nervousness about whether or not Clarice is interested in this too. 

“Yes, of course!” Clarice kisses Scully with fervor, finally allowing herself the very thing she has been craving all night. Probably the last couple of nights, if she’s being honest. 

Scully’s lips trail down the long column of Clarice’s neck, alternating between kissing and biting. “You’re mine,” she whispers, and this time it’s officially true. Scully pulls away and leads Clarice to her bedroom. 

“Take off your shirt and get on the bed,” Scully says, her voice husky, dripping with desire. Clarice looks at her defiantly when Scully tells her to lay on her stomach. 

“I promised you a massage, didn’t I?” Scully grabs massage oil from her dresser and walks over to Clarice, straddling her waist. 

“What if I want something more?” Clarice teases, trying to turn back over. 

Scully pins her hands down and tells Clarice that she is going to have to wait until after the massage if she wants something more. She warms the oil in her hands before rubbing Clarice’s strong back. 

Clarice lets out a moan that goes straight to Scully’s core. Scully’s very good at giving massages and she knows it. She can feel all of the knots in Clarice’s back and shoulders and hears Clarice hiss as she kneads each one, working them out. 

Clarice’s moans are driving her crazy. If that wasn’t enough, she feels her girlfriend thrusting up against her, trying to tease. Scully slowly moves her way down to Clarice’s lower back, finishing just at Clarice’s hips. The “doctor” part of her brain thinks she should ask Clarice to strip right now so she can continue the massage, but the “flaming bisexual” part wants to give into her other desires. Clarice’s begging makes the decision for her. 

“Please, touch me Dana,” Clarice whimpers out. Scully wants to tease her further, make Clarice specify exactly where she wants to be touched, but she doesn't think either of them will last that long. She reluctantly stops straddling her lover and immediately misses the contact as she allows Clarice to turn over. 

She briefly leaves the bed and grabs an object from her nightstand. Before Clarice even has time to wonder where Scully went, she feels her jeans being slid down her toned legs. She helps Scully slide her thong off until she is laying there fully naked, her center throbbing and begging to be touched. 

Clarice complains that Scully is fully clothed so Scully slowly strips, one piece of clothing at a time. She draws it out, her eyes locked on her lover’s. When she’s finally naked she makes her way in between Clarice’s legs. She massages her Clarice’s inner thighs and buttocks. She just smiles when she hears her girlfriend groan in frustration. Instead of being passive, Clarice grabs Scully’s head roughly and keeps going until she feels Scully’s mouth on her. 

A sigh escapes Scully’s mouth at the taste of her lover. It’s intoxicating, a perfect storm that drives Scully wild. She takes her time exploring slick folds, proud of how wet she made Clarice during the massage. 

She plunges her warm tongue inside and Clarice’s hips buck at the sensation. Scully’s left hand is wrapped around Clarice’s thigh but her right is reaching for the object beside her. 

There is a buzz as the toy is turned on. Clarice lets out a little yelp when Scully enters her with two fingers at the same time the vibrator touches her clit. It doesn’t take long to make Clarice’s legs start shaking. She’s clenching tightly at the long fingers inside her, trying to take Scully as deep as she can. 

“Oh fuck. Dana please don’t stop,” she cries out, so close to what she can already tell is going to be a powerful orgasm. Scully doesn’t disappoint and plunges in deeper and faster, curling her fingers in just the right spot. She swirls the tip of the vibrator around her lover’s clit in no particular pattern. She feels Clarice tighten around her and has the sudden urge to mark her, so she bites the inside of Clarice’s thigh sharply and sucks hard. 

All of the sensations, the pleasure and the pain, finally make Clarice fall apart. Scully’s hands and the bed are soaked. She tosses the vibrator to the side and replaces it with her mouth and tongue. But she can tell that Clarice is getting too sensitive so she backs up a little and slides her fingers out. 

She makes eye contact with Clarice as she takes each one in her mouth, cleaning them with a loud pop. Clarice pulls her girlfriend up until they are lying face to face. She kisses Scully deeply, telling her she likes the way she tastes on Scully’s lips. 

It doesn’t take long until Scully is panting, her own desire still building. Clarice realizes that Scully hasn’t come yet and gestures for Scully to straddle her waist. 

“Up.” 

It takes a second for the words to sink in, so she grips Scully by her hips and guides her forward until she is above Clarice’s mouth. The sweet musky scent of Scully surrounds all of Clarice’s senses.

“Fuck,” Scully cries out as she is forced to hold onto her headboard for support. Clarice’s warm mouth is already driving her wild. Getting her lover off was enough foreplay for Scully, but Clarice takes her time anyway and keeps her movements light and gentle. 

Scully is shaking, desperate for more as she bears down onto Clarice’s willing mouth. She acquiesces but holds Scully’s hips firmly so she can’t move any further. Scully might be the one on top, but her lover is in charge. 

“Please make me come,” Scully begs when she realizes that Clarice wants to be in full control. She opens her legs wider, giving her better access. For once, she is willing to be fully submissive. 

Clarice rewards her by sucking on her swollen clit. Clarice is in awe of the sight of Dana quivering and begging for release. She wants to extend this moment as long as possible, wants Dana to keep begging. Clarice wants Scully to know just how good it feels to be her girlfriend instead of just a casual lover. 

She slows her movements and glides her tongue through Dana’s slick folds, enjoying every drop of wetness as she coaxes her lover to cry out. 

While extremely pleasurable, that is not where Scully wants the attention. She tries to grind down on Clarice’s tongue but is once again halted by Clarice’s tight grip on her hips. 

Her hands trail down until she is pinching her own nipples, rolling the hard tips in between her fingers. She cries out as she feels Clarice’s tongue enter her firmly. She’s right on the edge and about to come until Clarice pulls back again. 

Clarice hears Scully whine and is intoxicated at the sight of her girlfriend falling apart. As her tongue circles the redhead’s clit, Clarice knows Dana is not going to last much longer. 

“Please,” Scully whimpers out. She is so close to the edge that it is almost painful. It’s freeing to be this vulnerable, so trusting for once. “Please, Clarice, I’m all yours.” 

Scully is panting as she says her last sentence and Clarice knows she can’t wait any longer. She takes Scully’s sensitive bundle in her mouth and flicks it with the tip of her tongue. When she feels Dana cry out and tense above her, she sucks firmly and intently. 

Scully is pretty sure she sees stars as Clarice finally lets her come. Her whole body is shaking and every nerve feels like it’s on fire. She hears Clarice moaning as her tongue laps up the wetness she is the cause of. 

This sound alone is enough to push Scully into her second orgasm. She whimpers, calling out Clarice’s name, drunk with knowing that Clarice is hers. That these sounds Clarice is making are all for her. Her legs can’t stop shaking and Clarice guides her down gently to the bed until they are face to face again. 

“You’re incredible, darlin’. I can’t imagine I will ever get tired of you begging me like that,” Clarice winks as she says this. 

Scully’s eyelids flutter and she is almost too blissed out to respond. The dominant side of her spikes back up and she replies, “Don’t get too used to it...I fully intend to make you beg for me as often as possible.” 

They decide to shower together and all of a sudden Scully has enough energy to push Clarice until she is facing the shower wall. She enters her suddenly from behind and the new angle is rewarded by a gasp. 

This isn’t normally Clarice’s favorite position but the fact that it’s Dana inside her makes it ten times better.

“I’m so close,” Clarice softly cries out before Scully quickens her movements, not making her beg _this time_. She’s right there to support Clarice when she reaches her peak and her legs start to feel like jelly. 

They realize that they never actually started showering, so they take turns under the water and wash each other's backs. It’s something so tender, so domestic and they are both glad they can enjoy this without awkwardness. 

It’s almost midnight when they finally make it to bed. Clarice falls asleep with a large smile on her face and Scully is incredibly happy. It’s been a long time since she has felt this way.


	19. Snow

Clarice wakes up with a smile still on her face. Scully’s slender arms surround her, keeping her warm despite the cold air of the apartment. 

She tries to stretch but it is soon evident that there is no way to do so without waking the redhead lying next to her. Her cell phone rests on the nightstand, just barely within reach. Luckily it’s only six in the morning. Clarice was relieved they didn’t sleep through their alarms. 

The familiar itch to go on a run returns and Clarice regretfully pulls herself out of bed. Scully stirs but a gentle kiss from Clarice leaves a sleepy grin on her face. She easily falls back to sleep. 

Clarice is glad she packed extra running clothes. This time she made sure that they would be warm enough. She’s happy to see that while there is snow stuck on the grass, the sidewalks are clear. She starts slowly to let her body get used to the frigid air. 

It’s always interesting running in a new location. Her music blares, mirroring her own intensity as she starts to break out into a full run. Within about thirty minutes her muscles are starting to burn. It isn’t enough to be painful, just enough to remind her to head back. 

Scully wasn’t worried when her alarm went off and she woke alone in bed. She knew that Clarice liked going for morning runs and besides, there was a decent chance they would have been late to work if they had actually woken up naked beside each other. 

It doesn’t take long for Scully to get ready so she sits in her living room sipping tea and reading a chapter from her book. Normally she would head into work early but she is happy for the opportunity to relax. She doesn’t usually give herself the permission. She often feels an urge to fill all of her time organizing her life or work. She knows her apartment doesn’t have many personal effects, that it looks more like a model than an actual home. But she feels herself starting to change, albeit very slowly. 

A very sweaty Clarice walks through the door and her eyes light up when she sees Scully laying on the couch and reading. She’s pretty sure her heart skips a beat when Scully sets the book down and makes her way to the door. 

“Dana,” Clarice breathes out as Scully kisses her softly. She starts to wrap her arms around her girlfriend but then realizes that she’s already dressed for work. Regrettably, she pulls back and heads to the shower. 

Scully intends to go back to reading but she’s too distracted. She can’t believe that Clarice is actually her girlfriend. She can’t even remember the last time she had a steady girlfriend. Her last few relationships had been with men, although not purposely. Clarice is just so different and Scully feels like she can let her guard down.

Scully hears the water shut off so she makes her way to the master bedroom. She perches on the side of the bed, eager to see Clarice. She doesn’t have to wait long because Clarice walks out wearing nothing but a towel, which she promptly sets aside when she sees her girlfriend staring. 

“Not fair, Clarice. You can’t tease me before work.” 

She just laughs but decides that Scully is probably right and they need to leave for work soon anyway. 

\--------------

Mulder chuckles as he watches Scully and Starling walking in the door to their building. The sidewalks were shoveled and cleared earlier this morning but there are still some uneven patches in the parking lot itself. 

The two women linked their arms together for the duration of the short walk after Scully almost slipped. The ease at which they moved together was enough to tell Mulder that their conversation had gone well. He’s truly happy for them. 

He stays in his car to enjoy the warmth as long as possible. They have a long day ahead of them but they made quite a bit of progress this week. The women have already started working by the time Mulder exits the elevator. 

Scully’s attention is fully devoted to the records in front of her, and she doesn’t even look up when he enters the office. Clarice is reading new articles at the other end of Scully’s desk, her feet propped up on a stack of boxes. 

Mulder is used to his partner’s intense focus so he just says a short ‘good morning’ and heads over to his desk. 

“What the fuck?” Mulder feels a sharp pain on the back of his neck and quickly touches the mark. He is concerned at first until he hears Clarice laughing uncontrollably. He can’t help but smile when he sees her quickly try to hide the stack of pencils next to her. 

“What was that for? I can’t be in trouble already, I just walked in…”

Scully finally looks up from her paperwork and stares up at Mulder. “That’s what you get for throwing pencils around the office. I can *kind of* understand the pencils on the ceiling, but seriously? Everywhere?” 

She turns towards Clarice and with a straight face says, “When I gave you that box I wanted you to irritate him, not kill him.” 

They both solemnly nod their heads, but Clarice throws another pencil at Mulder as soon as Scully looks away. 

Scully really tries to get back into the records she was reading but she feels on edge. She isn’t sure how to bring it up but she wants to tell Mulder about her new relationship before they immerse themselves in research for the day. 

She doesn’t have to wait long because Mulder brings it up first. “So Scully, how did your evening go? Did you get the answer you were looking for?”

Scully blushes when she feels Clarice’s eyes on her. She just nods and reaches out for Clarice’s hand. 

“Oh and Clarice?” Mulder pauses for dramatic effect. “Now that you’re officially Scully’s girlfriend, I’m counting on you to convince her not to kill me.”

Mulder’s laugh is cut off when Scully throws a pencil at him. She’s a good aim and makes sure to throw it softly enough that it won't injure him. Clarice promises that she will try her hardest. 

With that conversation out of the way, the agents get back to work. Scully is still going over the sales records while Mulder continues his paranormal literature research. Clarice has been emailing Jane all morning, exchanging information that might help profile this killer. 

\---------

This has been one of their most frustrating cases in recent memory. Both Mulder and Scully are each on their fourth cup of coffee and it’s only two in the afternoon. Clarice stopped after her third cup because she was getting jittery and had the beginnings of a migraine. 

It quickly turned into a full-blown migraine so she decided to talk a walk through the building. Once upstairs she decided to go outside just for some fresh air, but the snow had started falling heavily and was blowing through the air. 

She silently curses herself for not bringing a jacket, but the little bit of fresh air she got did make her feel a little better. After about fifteen minutes she decides to go back downstairs. The elevator seemed to be moving slower than usual, but she knew that probably had more to do with her migraine than the actual speed of her descent. 

She exits the elevator but stops to lean against a box in the hallway before heading back in the office. 

The lighting in the basement felt blinding. Luckily sound doesn’t affect her migraines, but unfortunately bright, yellow lights do. 

She slowly makes her way back towards the office but stops when she hears the two agents talking. They must have been intently focused before to not notice the sound of the elevator doors opening.

“Did a certain FBI agent keep you up all night?” He stops teasing when Scully glares at him, confirming his suspicions. _If looks could kill...I would have died years ago._

“I’m glad you’re happy, Scully, I really am. I never thought I’d see you fall for someone so quickly. It’s been what, two weeks?” Mulder pauses to take a breath and Scully quickly interrupts him. 

“I swear I will murder you if you make a joke about U-Hauls. It’s not funny. Especially since we live an hour away from each other.”

Mulder’s face turns red because that is exactly what he was going to do. 

“But honestly, I’m really happy. She’s special. And it’s going to be different when she goes home, but I really care about her and I’m sure we’ll figure it out.”

Clarice walks into the office just then and tries to hide the smile on her face. She knows how Scully feels about her, because of course they’ve talked about it, but it’s nice to know that it wasn’t just a confession in the heat of the moment. 

“I need a little break. We’ve been going for hours now,” Scully rubs her eyes and takes a deep breath.


End file.
